Monday, December 12, 2011

follow-up thought on creativity: how do you test it?

This is always a fascinating topic. I was moved to muse on it further today, coming across this quote:

"The McNamara Fallacy:

The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is okay as far as it goes.

The second step is to disregard that which can't be measured or give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading.

The third step is to presume that what can't be measured easily really isn't very important. This is blindness.

The fourth step is to say that that which can't be easily measured really doesn't exist. This is suicide."

Daniel Yankelovich, quoted by Adam Smith in Supermoney.

What level has standardized testing reached on this scale? Has creativity become devalued because it is hard to test? How can we do better?

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