Unit 3: Ideation and Creative Problem Solving - Practice Quiz

1 What is the main purpose of divergent thinking?

2 Which activity best demonstrates divergent thinking?

3 What does convergent thinking mainly involve?

4 Which sequence is commonly used during creative problem solving?

5 During a brainstorming session, what should participants generally do first?

6 What is a basic goal of brainstorming?

7 In the SCAMPER technique, what does the letter S represent?

8 Which SCAMPER action asks how an existing product could serve a different purpose?

9 Where is the main topic usually placed in a mind map?

10 What does reverse thinking encourage a team to do?

11 What is the purpose of evaluating ideas?

12 Which factor is useful when selecting an idea?

13 What does idea clustering involve?

14 What is one benefit of organizing ideas into clusters?

15 What does feasibility analysis mainly examine?

16 An idea is relevant when it does what?

17 What is an idea screening matrix used for?

18 What do the rows of a simple idea screening matrix commonly represent?

19 What does idea prioritisation mean?

20 Which idea should usually receive higher priority?

21 A team is designing ways to reduce waiting time at a college cafeteria. During the first session, which action best supports divergent thinking?

22 A group has generated only minor variations of the same packaging idea. Which prompt would most effectively increase the originality of its ideas?

23 Which sequence best combines divergent and convergent thinking when developing a new study-planning application?

24 A design team keeps debating the practicality of every suggestion while ideas are still being proposed. What is the most appropriate correction?

25 During brainstorming, two senior members dominate the discussion and quieter participants contribute very little. Which method would best improve participation?

26 A brainstorming team wants to build on an idea for a reusable delivery box. Which response best follows the principle of combining and improving ideas?

27 A manufacturer replaces a plastic bottle cap with a cap made from compostable material while keeping its function unchanged. Which SCAMPER action is being applied?

28 A bicycle company integrates a lock directly into the bicycle frame so users do not need to carry a separate lock. Which SCAMPER action is most evident?

29 A restaurant redesigns its ordering process so customers pay before receiving food rather than after eating. Which SCAMPER action is primarily used?

30 A team creates a mind map for improving public transport. Which branch structure would best support meaningful exploration?

31 A hotel team asks, "How could we make check-in as frustrating as possible?" It lists long forms, unclear signs, and repeated questions. What should the team do next?

32 A team must evaluate ideas for a low-cost water filter intended for remote villages. Which set of criteria is most appropriate?

33 Two ideas receive similar evaluation scores, but one idea addresses a clearly validated user need while the other is based mainly on assumptions. Which idea should normally advance first?

34 After brainstorming, a team has 80 notes about improving a library. Several notes concern navigation, book discovery, and signs. How should these notes be organised?

35 While clustering ideas, a suggestion appears relevant to both "customer support" and "product usability." What is the best response?

36 A highly relevant healthcare idea requires technology that is not yet reliable enough for clinical use. How should the idea be classified?

37 A school wants an attendance solution within one month and has a limited budget. Which proposal has the strongest overall feasibility?

38 An idea screening matrix uses weighted scores calculated as . An idea scores 4 for user value with weight 3, 3 for feasibility with weight 2, and 2 for originality with weight 1. What is its total score?

39 A team gives "user impact" twice the weight of "visual novelty" in its screening matrix. What does this decision mean?

40 A team places ideas on an impact-effort matrix. Which idea should generally receive the highest priority for early implementation?

41 A team must redesign a hospital appointment system. During the first session, participants immediately debate implementation costs and reject unusual suggestions. Which intervention best restores divergent thinking without losing the original problem focus?

42 A design team generates 120 ideas, but 90 are minor variations of the same service concept. Which assessment most accurately describes the quality of the team's divergent output?

43 A team alternates between generating alternatives and narrowing them after each idea. The final concept is practical, but several unexplored directions were never considered. What process flaw is most likely responsible?

44 A team uses divergent thinking to create alternative interpretations of a user need, then convergent thinking to rank solutions. Which sequence best protects against solving the wrong problem?

45 In a brainstorming session, senior members speak first and junior members build only on their proposals. Which modification most directly improves the session's cognitive diversity?

46 A brainstorming facilitator notices that participants produce many ideas but repeatedly restate the same assumptions about the customer. Which prompt would most effectively extend the search space?

47 A company wants to improve reusable food containers. It replaces the rigid lid with a flexible membrane that seals around irregular leftovers. Which SCAMPER operation is most directly represented?

48 A university converts unused classroom space into evening community workshops and low-cost maker facilities. Which SCAMPER question most directly generated this idea?

49 A meal-delivery service removes scheduled delivery windows and instead allows customers to request delivery only when they receive a location-based notification. Which SCAMPER operation is central to this change?

50 A mind map about reducing workplace accidents contains branches for equipment, training, behavior, environment, incentives, and reporting. What is the principal value of this structure during ideation?

51 A team asks, "How could we make public transport as inconvenient and unsafe as possible?" It then reverses each answer into a design opportunity. What is the main benefit of this approach?

52 Two concepts receive identical average ratings. Concept A has strong support from nearly every evaluator, while Concept B is rated extremely high by some and extremely low by others. What should the team examine before selecting one?

53 An idea is highly desirable for users but depends on regulations that may change within six months. Which evaluation response is most appropriate?

54 After affinity clustering, a team finds that one cluster contains ideas about notifications, reminders, and escalation rules. What is the best next action?

55 A clustering exercise groups ideas by the technology used, but the team later discovers that ideas serving the same user need appear in separate groups. What does this indicate?

56 A proposed service is technically feasible and inexpensive but addresses a problem that users describe as infrequent and unimportant. Which conclusion is most defensible?

57 A concept ranks highly on user relevance but requires infrastructure unavailable to the organization. Which experiment best reduces the most important feasibility uncertainty?

58 A screening matrix assigns weights of 0.5 to desirability, 0.3 to feasibility, and 0.2 to viability. An idea scores 8, 4, and 6 respectively on a ten-point scale. What is its weighted score?

59 A screening matrix gives a high score to an idea because its weighted average is strong, but the idea fails a mandatory safety requirement. How should the matrix be interpreted?

60 A team has resources to develop only one concept. Concept X has high impact and high uncertainty; Concept Y has moderate impact and low uncertainty. Which selection strategy is most appropriate when the organization needs evidence before committing substantial resources?