This study examined the effects of group training and several environmental and personal factors on 515 students' decisions to initiate creative investigations in new gifted education programs. Forty-eight groups of above average ability students in grades 3-8 were randomly , assigned to either control or experimental groups. Students in the treatment group received seven lessons in organizing a creative investigation. Initiation of a creative investigation was the dependent variable. Parsonal variables and group membership were entered into a hierarchical discriminant function analysis in an effort to identify the strength of the treatment beyond the personal variables of grade, sex, self-efficacy, learning style preferences, achievement, and academic aptitude. All eight predictor variables proved significant and accounted for 22% of the variance between groups.
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