Projective Techniques Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Projective Techniques - Research Paper Example 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 personalit y 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 va luable 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