Creativity of master students in developing new methods
I categorise potential thesis topics into high-stake and low-stake ones:


For low-stake topics, I have a clear plan what should be done in which order – unless some unexpected obstacle occurs or something new and exciting is found.
The student still needs to apply their skills and knowledge to solve smaller problems along the way, but I do not expect any obstacles that I cannot solve with a day’s thinking myself.
Thus, I can always keep the thesis work from stalling due to this reason.

Such a thesis may produce a publishable result, usually if the student works efficiently and thoroughly.
High-stake topics (like developing a new method) involve a considerable amount of trial and error or a considerable creative leap.
In particular, I do not have a good solution to the problem in mind (otherwise it wouldn’t be a high-stake topic).
However, I have at least a few approaches in mind to ensure that the student has sufficient work to do.

It may happen that the student will spend their entire thesis pursuing dead ends and their thesis will be a catalogue of what they tried and what didn’t work.
The student may still get the best grade for their thesis, but it may be a very frustrating experience, and there is likely no further useful by-product from this thesis, such as a publication.
On the other hand, if the student succeeds, this usually means that their work is really useful or interesting and likely to be publishable.

I would never give such a topic to a student without informing them about the above risk (there always are some low-stake topics lying around; so they always have a choice).
Also, I would only offer such a topic to a student who shows at least some promise in terms of enthusiasm, discipline, history, knowledge, and intelligence (though it is often not possible to assess all of these factors).


Note that, while there technically is a grey area between the two, few thesis topics actually fall into it (at least in my field).

Now, why am I telling you all this?
If you want to provoke your students’ creativity, you need to give them high-stake topics that force them to brood over it for some time.
However, this does not work for every student, and students should not be exposed to such topics only with prior warning.
The latter is not only to allow them make an informed choice but also to prepare them for what is to come, should they take the challenge.

A few further notes and answer to your specific questions:



  Is there a point giving this task to a student or should I forget it and solve it myself?


Never rely on a thesis to produce anything.
Even promising students may turn out to be overconfident, lack discipline or stamina.
There simply is no feasible way to judge a student’s prospects for a thesis.
If this is important or promising, do it yourself.

  More general: What creativity can I expect from master students to create new methods? Am I expecting too much?


That’s hard to answer as it depends on what makes for a new method in your field.
In general the best I would expect is combining existing and adapting existing methods, not developing something new from scratch.

  How can I foster creativity in my students?


In my experience, to be creative about a given scientific problem requires:


Familiarity – give your students time and encourage them to familiarise themselves with the problem, investigate why established methods fail, etc.
At least in my field, this makes for a considerable portion of the thesis time.
Just writing down the problem and thinking very rarely works.
Inspiration – talk with them about the problem frequently; ask them questions about their approaches; encourage them to browse the literature.
Being open to failure – encourage your student to practice a lot of trial and error, and be clear that their is no shame in exploring dead ends.
Freedom and time – do not demand regular results from your students in a phase where they may need to reflect their results, failures, the literature, etc.
Make it clear to your students that their problems require such phases.