is the process of sitting on an idea and using the time to collect massive data that may be stored, retrieved, studied, reshaped, and molded into something new.

C) incubation

Explanation:

In psychology, incubation tend to occurs when a person has a spark of ideas but still hasn't find a way to transform that idea into something concrete/usable. This is why this spark of ideas lies dormant within their conscious and constantly reworked / reshaped overtime.

This phenomenon often occurred among inventors, writers, or programmers.

For example,

Often times, a programmer will have a spark of ideas about a software that can be popular in the market. But that programmer still hasn't quite figure out how to properly code it and make that ideas into reality. So that idea just stick in their head until he obtain further data that enable him/her to move further.

what are you saying?

answer; ( conflict );