SBIR Phase I: Workforce Creative thinking Assessment

SBIR第一阶段项目的重点是设计练习和开发一套计算方法，以测量和增强劳动力中基于语义的创造力。在招聘新员工或培训现有员工时，没有有效的方法来衡量一个人解决问题的能力。为了成为一个有效的问题解决者，员工必须拥有知识（例如，给员工一个她以前见过或参与过的问题的解决方案），员工需要创造性地思考（例如，员工遇到一个新的问题；在大多数情况下，创造性的员工使用头脑风暴的方法来产生一些可能的解决方案，并测试可能的解决方案，以达到最佳答案）。这个项目的独特方法是设计模型，在模型中测量创造力和发散性思维，并生成CQ指数。该项目利用自然语言处理（NLP）的先进技术和心理测量方法，对用户的反应进行评估，并生成一个代表用户创造力的指数“创造力商数”（Creativity Quotient）。对回答的评估基于三个因素：流畅性（独特和相关想法的数量），灵活性（回答类别的数量）和原创性（回答的罕见性和独特性）。该技术部署了一个基于单词或短语的关联权重，其中算法测量单词和短语之间关联的唯一性。唯一的关联得到更高的权重。

This SBIR Phase I project focuses on designing exercises and developing a set of computational methods to measure and enhance semantic-based creativity in the workforce. When hiring a prospect or training an existing employee, there is no efficient way to measure one's problem solving abilities. In order to be an efficient problem solver, an employee must possess the knowledge (e.g., an employee is given a problem whose solution she has witnessed or contributed to previously) and the employee needs to think creatively (e.g., the employee encounters a novel problem; in most scenarios, creative employees use brainstorming methods to generate a number of possible solutions and test possible solutions to arrive at the best answer). This project's unique approach is the design of models, where creativity and divergent thinking is measured and a CQ index is generated.Using advanced techniques in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and psychometric approach, the project evaluates the responses and generates an index called "Creativity Quotient," which represents users' creativity. The responses are evaluated based three factors: fluency (# of unique and relevant ideas), flexibility (# of categories of responses) & originality (infrequency and uniqueness of responses). The technique deploys a word or phrase-based associative weight where the algorithm measures the uniqueness of associations between words and phrases. Unique associations receive higher weighting.