the CPSSAcademic

• Introduction

The Creative Product Semantic Scale (CPSS) is an online quantitative measure for assessing product creativity. The reliability and validity of the CPSS was tested over more than two decades, and the online version has been used commercially by major companies, worldwide, for nearly a decade. It is a robust and useful tool for understanding aspects of creativity in products of all kinds. Although earlier versions were used by some academic researcher, ideafusion is the only authorized source for the current, scientifically validated version.  The CPSS is available only online, for individual raters, and for larger studies using a group of raters.
Many graduate students and other scholars write each year asking for permission to use this
measurement instrument in their academic work. Until now, this was impossible from a
logistical point of view, and the pricing structure made the CPSS out of the range of possibility
for academic use. The online CPSS is now being made available in a special format for
academic users called the CPSSAcademic.

• Stakeholders

In academic studies involving measurement instruments there are always at least four
stakeholders with needs that must be met. There are the needs of the student researcher, the
needs of his or her academic supervisor, the needs of the university, and the needs of the
authors of the measure. Student researchers need a measure that is valid and reliable,
appropriate to their study, priced appropriately for their resources, acceptable to their
committee and their university, and easy to administer and understand. The academic
supervisor’s needs mirror those of the student, with the emphasis on the quality of the results,
and ease in administration. The university needs quality research done with accountability.
The authors of any measure need to assure appropriate use of the measure, security of the
measure, and protection of intellectual property.

Because of the complexity of these needs, it is necessary to set out a protocol for the use of
the measure, which serves as a type of contract among all parties. These conditions protect
both the integrity of the measure, and ensure a careful and well-executed study by the student
researchers. Many of these issues also apply to faculty researchers. If all parties cannot agree
to the following conditions of use, the CPSSAcademic will not be available for use in the study.
To make its use feasible for academics, a reduced academic pricing structure has been
established (see Fee Structure for the CPSSAcademic below).

Conditions for Appropriate Use

• Authorizing Student Users

The CPSSAcademic may be used for a fee by students at the master’s or doctoral level when enrolled in an academic program of study at an accredited college or university. Since it is sometimes difficult to establish the authenticity of the identity of internet users, it is necessary to have the verification of the student’s enrollment in an academic program. This is done through an email from the student’s advisor or committee member, sent from the email system of the university or institution of higher education.

This verification also allows assurance that the student ‘s research is adequately
supervised, that his or her research is following proper research protocols in selecting
an appropriate measure, that he is communicating appropriately with his academic
supervisors, and is planning ahead for his research project. Another purpose for email
contact between the advisor and ideafusion (the company owning and managing the
CPSS), is to assure that the research done using the CPSSAcademic will be acceptable to
the host institution.

• Authorizing Faculty Users

Verification of faculty users is established by two criteria, an email contact coming from
the email system of a recognized academic institution and a faculty web page hosted by
the institutional web site. Publications of the faculty member are also considered in
order to verify the potential faculty user.

• Sample Size

The best studies using the CPSS result from a research design where a few products are
rated by many raters. A minimum of 50 to 60 raters is recommended. However, there
are also instances where the results from a CPSS study are intended to prove the
efficacy of an experimental treatment, or of two different environmental settings.
Under these conditions there are typically more products (6-12) and fewer raters (2-6).
Such studies do not provide the robust reliabilities of the larger rating pool, but may be
acceptable to the supervisor and the student.

• Scheduling the Study and Collecting Data

There are many logistical details that must be arranged between the academic user and
ideafusion, so conversations regarding the study and arrangements to use the CPSSAcademic
should start at least one semester or four months in advance of data collection. The study
using the CPSSAcademic must be scheduled at least one month before data collection begins,
since other users, both academic and commercial may also be scheduling studies. The data
collection process must be concluded during a ten day interval. This condition is necessary so
as not to tie up the software for other users. Changes to previously agreed-upon scheduling
conditions may be sufficient cause to rescind the agreement allowing the use of the
CPSSAcademic.

• Deliverables from using the CPSSAcademic

Academic users receive the analyzed results from their study including a data table of the
subscale or facet means and standard deviations for the nine facets resulting from the analysis
of the datasets that they create in their studies. They do not receive the raw data. It is
important that all stakeholders, including academic supervisors, realize that the raw data sets
remain the property of ideafusion and that the proprietary scoring algorithm is not disclosed.
Besides the analysis and the results, academic users are entitled to a one hour complimentary
debrief on Skype or telephone (at the caller’s expense). Depending on the project, this debrief
may be longer than one hour. This helps users interpret their results and further maintains the
integrity of the measure.

• Fee Structure for the CPSSAcademic

The fee structure starts out with a significant reduction in price per rating from the commercial
version of the CPSS. In addition to this academic discount, and in order to encourage studies
with the reliability of larger data sets, the fee structure makes use of a “quantity discount” for
larger sample sizes. The rates for users with 1-10 ratings are $20 (USD20) per rating per
product. The next 10 ratings are priced at $10 (USD10) each, the next 30 at $5 (USD05) each;
those ratings beyond 50 are priced at $1 (USD01) per rating. Thus, the cost for a study where
20 raters rate 2 products would be $300 per product or a total of $600. The cost for study
where 100 raters evaluate one product would be $500. If additional analysis is desired, beyond
the deliverables discussed above, consulting fees may be negotiated and applied.