A Comparison of Statistical Infrequency and Subjective Judgment as Criteria in the Measurement of Originality

The Alternate Uses test was administered to a sample of 60 college students. Three different criteria of originality were used in scoring: subjective judgment, statistical infrequency, and random numbers. Correlations among the three methods exceeded .67 (p < .01). The explanation for this finding is that the originality scores are strongly influenced by the number of responses (i.e., ideational fluency). Because the total originality score is based on a sum of the originality weightings for each response, individuals who give many responses are more likely to get high originality scores. Further analysis demonstrated that the subjective and statistical infrequency scoring techniques are not correlated when ideational fluency is controlled. Implications for the measurement of originality are discussed.