Report R3.16 Use of Projective Techniques in Research Seminar Leader: Manavi Pathak, Fellow Scholar, XLRI, Jamshedpur manavi24[at]yahoo.com Projective techniques are an important set of tools for research in behavioural science. Here, the respondent’s real feelings are inferred from what the respondent says about external objects and images. When a respondent is subjected to direct questions or confronting queries, the responses do not reflect the attitude and motivation. This tendency of the respondent to hide certain things from the examiner (questioner) could be attributed to various reasons such as the fear of a true and honest response creating a negative impression. It could also be that the respondent is unaware of his/her own inherent biases. Projective techniques allow respondents to project their subjective or true opinions and beliefs onto other people or objects. Projective techniques may be contrasted with the so-called objective methods of data collection, such as true/false questions or multiple-choice questions The scoring in these objective methods is done according to a set of procedures. It requires little or no judgement on the part of the examiner. In contrast, projective techniques are highly subjective. Although, they have a set of defined procedures, they need the examiner to make a good number of judgements, which are critical for the study. Introduced by Lawrence K. Frank (1980-1968) in 1939, projective techniques in research draw heavily from the psychoanalytic theory of personality. The psychoanalytic theory suggests that much of the explanations for contradicting human behaviour lies hidden in the unconscious. This is the result of how a person negotiates conflicting, deep-rooted desires and instincts. There is an overlap of the psychoanalytic theory with some of the learning theories. The early years of development make a critical contribution to the adult psyche. Responses from projective techniques represent projections from the unconscious mental processes. There are attempts in projective techniques to overcome the defence mechanisms strongly ingrained in an individual. The basic assumption for projective techniques is that personal interpretations of ambiguous stimulus must reflect unconscious needs, motives, and conflicts of the person. The origin of projective techniques can be traced back to Francis Galton (1879), who used the word association test in psychology. He used a list of 75 stimulus words on his respondents with which he read and noted their responses. The responses to the words had a tendency to remain alike and they were typically taken from the respondent's childhood experiences. This prompted future studies by prominent psychologists such as Freud in the area of psychoanalysis dealing with the unconscious mind and free association. There are different ways of administering word association tests: * A list of words or phrases can be presented in random order to the respondents who then are requested to state or write the word or phrase that pops into their minds. * Respondents can be asked for what word or phrase comes to mind immediately upon hearing certain words. * Respondents can be introduced to slogans or punch lines and their reactions noted. * Respondents can be asked to describe an inanimate object by giving it "human characteristics" or associating descriptive adjectives with it. Hermann Ebbinghaus developed the sentence completion test for the measurement of intelligence. In this method, the respondents are given incomplete sentences and asked to complete the thought. These sentences are usually in the third person and tend to be ambiguous. Sentence completion tests are easier to interpret since the answers provided will be more detailed than in a word association test. However, the intent in a sentence completion test is also more obvious to the respondent, and could result in less honest replies. Alfred Binet used verbal response to pictures as a measure of intelligence and later Rorschach used the inkblot test: Respondents are shown inkblots of random designs and their responses to the same are noted. Rorschach's inkblots have been used consistently over a period of time and the responses standardised. Projective techniques can be classified as: (a) Association techniques, (b) Completion techniques, (c) Construction techniques, and (d) Expression techniques. Association Techniques Popular among association techniques are Rorschach inkblot test and Holtzman inkblot test. Rorschach’s test is a projective technique for psychological evaluation aiming at probing the unconscious mind of the respondent. In Rorschach’s test, there are ten original inkblots. Five inkblots have black ink on white card. Two have black and red ink on white card. Three are multicoloured. The administrator shows the inkblots in a particular order and asks the respondent to say the first thing that comes to mind. After the respondent has seen and responded to all the inkblots, the administrator then gives them to him/her again one at a time to study. The respondent is asked to say everything he/she sees in each inkblot. The blot can also be rotated by the respondent at will. Although the administrator will not tell the respondent so, spontaneous turning of the blot or asking permission to do so is seen as a distinct sign. All the while, the administrator meticulously notes down the response of the respondent. Scoring is done based on the location on the card on which the respondent focuses, respondent's logic, and content of the response. Abnormality is detected by contrasting the response with popular ones. Various issues relating to the test were discussed. The reliability and validity of the test were questioned. The matter of administrator's biases in the test was discussed. High inter-scorer differences could be an indication of the low reliability of the test. Holtzman’s inkblot test is often described as a multivariable projective personality test. It was designed to overcome the limitations of Rorschach’s test. The inkblot test consists of two forms of 45 inkblots. It is scored on 22 variables. Although, the test scores high on reliability, there is not much information regarding the validity of the test. The inter-scorer consistency on many of the variable scores is the basis for the test’s reliability. Completion Techniques The commonly used completion techniques are the sentence completion tests and the Rosenweig’s picture frustration test. In the sentence completion technique, the respondent is provided with an incomplete sentence and is asked to complete the same. The completed sentences reflect underlying motivation, attitudes, conflicts, and fears of the respondent. The test covers the respondent’s family behaviour, interpersonal relations, and self-concept. Rosenweig’s picture frustration test requires the respondent to produce a verbal response to highly structured verbal--pictorial (pictures, audio, video, etc.) stimuli. Available in three forms namely Child, Adolescent, and Adult, the test consists of 24 comic strip pictures depicting frustrating circumstances. The purpose is to assess the respondent’s characteristic manner of reacting to frustration. Rosenweig defined frustration as occurring whenever an individual encounters obstacle or obstruction en route to the satisfaction of a need. Construction Techniques Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and Children’s Apperception Test (CAT) are a few of the well-known construction techniques. Developed by Henry Murray in 1938, The TAT was originally designed to assess needs and "press". Needs organise perception, thought, and action, and energise behaviour in the direction of their satisfaction. "Press" refers to the power of environmental events to influence a person. The test consists of 30 pictures portraying a variety of themes and has one blank card. Its Indian adaptation is by Uma Choudhary. The basic assumption in the test is that the respondent identifies with the character and projects his/her needs, strivings, and feelings with the main character in the picture. Conversely the thoughts, feelings, and actions avoided represent areas of conflict. The CAT was developed by Alan S. Bellack on lines of TAT. It consists of 10 pictures meant for children, 3-10 years of age. The 10 items consist of 10 scenes showing a variety of animal figures in human social settings. The use of animal figures was based on the assumption that children of these ages would identify more readily with appealing drawings of animals. There exists no formal scoring system in CAT. Expression Techniques Draw a Person (DAP) test was developed by Karen Machover. It is widely used as a clinical assessment tool. Here the respondents project unacceptable impulses to the opposite sex. The test is based on the respondent's drawings of human figures. This test is used with two different scoring systems for different purposes. One measures nonverbal intelligence while the other checks the respondent for emotional or behavioural disorders. Another interesting expression technique is the House-Tree-Person (HTP) test. Developed by John N Buck, the primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person's personality through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or overall neurological functioning. Here, the respondents respond to ambiguous, abstract, or unstructured stimuli. In the HTP, the respondent is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and these drawings provide a measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. The drawings provide the following clues: House: Mirrors the respondent’s home life and interfamilial relationships Tree: Reflects the manner in which the respondent experiences the environment Person: Reflects the respondent’s interpersonal relationships Projective techniques have found application in fields such as clinical research, personnel selection, and consumer behaviour analysis. In clinical research, it helps to identify states and traits that characterise particular conditions. It helps in treatment planning. It also aids counselling and psychotherapy. Projective techniques have been found useful in research on gender and cross-cultural differences. New approaches to scoring in projective techniques continue to emerge. At the same time, validity and reliability of the techniques continue to puzzle researchers. Reported by Adwaita Govind Menon, with inputs from DP Dash and CD Kuruvilla (16 March 2006) Copyleft Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier Square, Bhubaneswar 751013, India Research World (ISSN 0974-2379) http://www1.ximb.ac.in/RW.nsf/pages/Home |
