Factor Validity of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Verbal Form B in Argentinean students

ARANGUREN, MARÍA; KRUMM, GABRIELA LILIANA; ARÁN FILIPPETTI, VANESSA; LEMOS, VIVIANA

Congreso; The 9th Conference International Test Commission; 2014

Introduction. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) battery includes a Figural and a Verbal version. Although the TTCT is one of the most widely used test of creativity (Colangelo & Davis, 1997), its? construct validity remain being questioned and analyzed (Kim, 2011). There are few studies of the TTCT- Verbal factor structure (e.g. Krumm & Lemos, 2010). In contrast, several recent studies of the TTCT factor structure have been done using the Figural version. The TTCT-Verbal consists of six activities which evaluate three creative skills: (a) fluency, (b) originality and, (c) flexibility (Torrance, 1990). These abilities are scored in every activity resulting in three subscales that were proposed by Torrance (1990) in the TTCT scoring system. Objectives. The purpose of this research is to analyze the factor structure of the TTCT-Verbal Form B in Argentinean students. Based on previous studies, two different models were compared through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The first model proposes six factors which represent the six activities with their respective indicators ?fluency, flexibility and originality-. The second model consists of three factors that represent the three skills assessed, namely: fluency, originality, and flexibility, and the corresponding indicators for each variable (e.g. to the fluency variable corresponds the fluency indicator of each activity). Design/Methodology. Respondents consisted of 432 Spanish speaking youngsters of both genders aged 15 to 26. CFA were conducted to test the fit of the two models. Results. According to the research findings, the model which showed the most satisfactory fit identifies six correlated factors (Chi-square = 414.48; df = 116; Chi-square/df = 3.57; GFI = .90, NFI = .95; CFI = .96 and RMSEA = .077). Conclusions. Considering the six factors found in this research, it would be advisable to reconsider the use of the ability scores as separate factors.