Abstract
In this chapter we reflect on a particular way of studying immensely high complexity, such as creativity, by investigating extraordinary achievers. The basis of our reflections are two empirical studies, one conducted in the area of haute cuisine, through interviewing top chefs, and the second conducted in the area of science, thorough interviewing Nobel Laureates. We explore why we feel that studying such extraordinary individuals can be more fruitful for better understanding creativity than trying to achieve an artificially manufactured sample that provides insights about the creative potential of the average individual. We outline the problems we see with the notion of representative samples from both conceptual as well as feasibility perspectives and offer an argument for studying the extraordinary instead.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Palgrave Handbook of Social Creativity Research |
| Editors | Vlad Petre Glăveanu, Izabela Lebuda |
| Place of Publication | Cham, Switzerland |
| Chapter | 36 |
| Pages | 569-584 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-319-95498-1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Publication series
| Name | Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Palgrave |
Keywords
- qualitative research
- significant samples
- representativeness
- extraordinary
- generalizability
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Cite this
Dörfler, V., & Stierand, M. (2019). Extraordinary: reflections on sample representativeness. In V. P. Glăveanu, & I. Lebuda (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Social Creativity Research (pp. 569-584). (Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture). Cham, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95498-1_36