The key assumption I was testing was if students want to be more creative on their own time outside of class. This is fundamental to our product because we are trying to attract new users that otherwise would not use our app. We believe that people (students in particular) have an innate desire to be more creative and we can capitalize on this desire. To test this hypothesis, I performed 2 tests:
- I made a google survey where students were asked about their relationship with creativity in addition to a series of quantitative questions that sought to gauge how much they value creativity. Of course everyone would say that they want to be more creative but would they act on this action when they have other distractions competing for their attention?
- One key question was if you had 1 additional hour in your day, what would you spend it doing. Students could only select one option and they had to choose between activities like painting, sleeping, playing video games, reading, etc. Roughly 10% of students chose an activity that was creative.
- A second key question was how much would you pay for an additional hour to perform the following activities: sleeping, painting, playing video games, etc. On average, students valued additional creative time the 5th most.
- I studied enrollment data for Drawing 1 and Painting 1 to see what portion of students enrolled in these introductory creative classes are taking it for a major requirement vs taking it for pleasure. Roughly 50% were in the latter group.
My key takeaway from these tests is that students are more willing to pursue creative outlets when they are structured and educational (aka an art class). Additionally, people may say they want to be more creative but when given the choice, they may chose other stress relief outlets instead.
