Projective Techniques - Assignment Example

? Running Head: Projective Techniques Projective Techniques Underlying projective techniques is the concept of `projection' - a concept that is attributed to the work of Sigmund Freud Projection basically relates to how unconscious and often suppressed beliefs can be transferred (projected) on to external objects. Projection can be seen as a cornerstone of much current management theory. It played an important role in Murray's identification of psychological needs. In turn Murray's work provided the theoretical basis for much early management research such as achievement motivation, competency based models of management and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It is still implicitly used in many areas of management, but is seldom acknowledged. For example, in operational management, OCE layout theory assumes that managers project their subconscious in designing their OCE space (bunker, open etc.). This paper would mainly focus upon the detail analysis of the projective techniques and its application in academic researches as well. The idea of projective techniques is usually accredited to Frank (1939) with techniques initially developed in clinical psychology, where they were used for personality assessment and psychoanalytic treatment (Bellak 1992, Graham and Lilly 1984, Kassarjian 1974). The hypothesis that \research participants project aspects of their personalities in the process of disambiguating unstructured test stimuli" was the basis for this development. A number of different techniques were developed such as the well-known Rorschach technique or ink-blot test" where subjects are assumed to project aspects of their own personality onto the ambiguous features of a series of pictures of inkblots. Projective techniques provide the researcher with the tools to elicit projection and thus go beyond the fence of bounded rationality. This is because they have the ability to tap into the unconscious mental processing of individuals and can be used to get through the defensive barriers that respondents erect (Boddy, 2010, Ramsey, Ibbotson, and McCole 2006, Rogers and Beal 2006), the barriers of incorrect attribution or the barriers due to research question sensitivity (Anderson 1978, Fram and Cibotti 1991, Soley 2009). The first use of projective techniques in management research is generally accepted to be Haire (1950). He conducted a marketing study in the United States using projective techniques and found that female consumers formed impressions about the personalities of other women based on their product purchases, which they could not, or would not, state during direct questioning. The study gave unique and valuable insights into the barriers to product acceptance among housewives and these were deemed to be so useful that the study was basically the launch pad for the use of projective techniques in marketing research. Professional marketing researchers adopted the use of projective techniques and concluded that projective techniques were far superior to other research methods because they assessed the deep-rooted motivations of consumers. Follow up studies have consistently confirmed and supported the validity of Haire's approach and this cemented their use in marketing research (Soley, 2009). This common usage of projective techniques in marketing and advertising communications research continues to this day. Projective Techniques can be classified in a number of ways based on mode of response provides for five types. These are: Association Techniques Association techniques ask participants to respond to a stimulus with whatever association first comes to their mind. For example they may be asked What type of car would an accountant usually drive?" This is an example of word association, which is the most common test in this category. It is a simple enabling device where respondents or research participants suggest words that they can associate, in some way, with something relevant to what is being researched. The weakness of word association tests is that they do not provide respondents with the ability to project their subjective thoughts and perceptions on to a third person, and this may restrict their usefulness as a data elicitation technique. In addition, words can have explicit as well as ambiguous meanings, and interpretation of their meaning will be dependent on how individuals in, for example, different cultural settings interpret them. However, word associations can be extremely useful as they demand little from the subjects. Choice Ordering Exercises Choice ordering exercises ask respondents or research participants to arrange items in order of choice or best fit along criteria which the respondents themselves specify or which the researcher specifies as being relevant. For example in automobile research a researcher may say to respondents. Please sort these types of cars into groups of similar image". In brand image research a researcher could ask: Please place these packs of tissues (packs actually presented) in order of the masculinity of each pack from least masculine to most masculine, or, please sort these packs into groups of similar brands. This technique can allow respondents' own categorisations and understandings of a product or an issue to be described rather than the researcher asking them to discuss something along pre-determined lines. Gaining such an understanding from the respondents' point of view helps ensure that key elements of the issue being researched are not overlooked by the researcher. Expressive Procedures Here research participants are asked to describe something, typically visually or verbally and the process in which they do this is explored. For example if conducting employee evaluation research one may ask the respondents to. Please describe what sort of animal your regional manager would be if he were an animal" or please describe what sort of person this company would be if it were a person". This is known as personification in which the candidates are requested to think and imagine something life-less such as a brand or product as if it was a human being. After that the candidates are asked to explain the personality, character and lifestyle of that personified product and brand and also asked to describe where they might be living from the whole world and who would be their friends and relatives. Projective techniques have a number of advantages over direct questioning and some of these stem from the unusualness of the techniques as presented to respondents. They can be classified as a structured-indirect research approach that is capable of uncovering the feelings, beliefs, attitudes and motivations that many people may find difficult to articulate (Tuber, 2012). Since questions are not presented within the usual context of a conversation, it may not be obvious to respondents what answers may be appropriate or desirable (Tuber, 2012). This helps reduce issues of social desirability bias and also helps the researcher to uncover inner perspectives from their subjects in a way they will feel comfortable with (Morrison, 2012). In line with the above arguments, Conte (2009) found that the indirect techniques associated with projective techniques can reduce social desirability bias on variables subject to social influence. Social desirability bias is the systematic error in self-reported measures that result from respondents wanting to present a socially-desirable image to others and to avoid personal embarrassment. The techniques allow respondents to feel freer about the answers they give by de-personalising those answers or allowing them to express their answers in non-threatening ways such as via pictures or stories about people other than themselves (Wood 1969, Boddy 2008). Viewed as a `face-saving' method, projective techniques provide the defence mechanisms that enable individuals to unconsciously attribute their personality traits and impulses to others Tuber, 2012). This frees respondents from self-censorship by removing their self-consciousness about their answers and this helps research gain more self-revealing answers from respondents. The stimuli can range from structured (clear and definite) at one extreme, to very ambiguous (unstructured) at the other extreme. The structure of a stimulus determines the degree of choice available to the subject. A very much planned and structured questionnaire method, such as presenting the candidate with just true and false leaves very small margin for options, so the answer provided by the person is quite ambiguous as he or she is not presenting his or her original opinions in that question. So the research should be a lot more flexible with a number of different options for the person to choose from for better conclusions. There has been great acceptance of the facts such as the left brain thinking and right brain thinking as it reinforces the importance of including more intuitive insights that projective techniques can provide, alongside more formal management science-based research techniques. Finally, there is growing evidence in social and cognitive psychology that individuals do have implicit or unconscious attitudes (Morrison, 2012), and that self-reports cannot tap these. Advocates of projective techniques have been arguing this for decades. A failure to discuss and test these theoretical developments, and to use methods that can test them, makes research insular rather than integrated, which is what integrated marketing communication is all about. Finally, US marketing researchers have not only neglected this research, but have ignored research (e.g., Soley, 2010) showing that self-report, verbal instruments, such as semantic differential scales, lack the validity that their users assert. Given the shortcomings of the traditional, positivist approaches to market research, academic and professional market researchers would be well-served if they thought about, and experimented with, projective techniques. So in conclusion, it can be rightly stated that the projective techniques have a fair bit of edge over the other researching techniques and it has many advantages that have been discussed earlier and that can prove to of great help while application in an academic research analysis. List Of References: 1. Boddy, C. R., & Croft, R. (2010). Projective techniques. Bradford, England: Emerald. 2. Soley, L. C., Gartside, W., Carey, S., & Insight Media (Firm). (2009). Research with projective techniques. New York: Distributed by Insight Media. 3. Morrison, M. A. (2012). Using qualitative research in advertising: Strategies, techniques, and applications. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE. 4. Soley, L. C., & Smith, A. L. 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