A Systematic Review of Research on Creative Thinking in Primary Education: Focus on Empirical Methodologies

This article reviews the methodologies used in 76 empirical studies conducted on creative thinking in primary school education and published between 2011 and 2021. The studies were analysed for their context, foci of investigation and the methodologies used. Each study was coded and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings are discussed in reference to research on creative thinking and to previous relevant methodological reviews. The results showed that the country which produced the highest number of publications is China followed by the US. Most studies focused on investigating the educational factors that affect the development of creative thinking in primary education. The majority of these studies were based on quantitative approaches, with questionnaires being the most preferred data collection instrument. Based on these results, suggestions are made for future research on creative thinking in primary education.