Projective Techniques

This technique was basically started in Psychology

department of Harvard University.
Prof. Murray and his assistant Christina, they studied behavior
of one of his student’s child, who had the problem of weird
dreams. To study this case they developed this technique.
Projective Techniques: It is unstructured, indirect form of
questioning that encourages respondents to project their
underlying motivation, belief , attitude and feelings regarding
the issues of concern.
In projective technique, respondents are asked interpret the
behavior of others.
In interpreting the behavior of others, respondents indirectly
project their own motivations, beliefs, attitudes and feelings
into the situation.
 Classification of Projective Technique

Projective Technique

Comp

Association Construction Expressive

Completion
Technique Technique Technique
Technique
 Expressive techniques
Is a projective technique in which respondents
are presented with a verbal or visual situation
and asked to relate the feelings and attitude of
other people to the situation.
Role Playing: Respondents are asked to play the
role or assume the behavior of someone else.
 Association Techniques
It is a projective technique in which the
respondent is presented with a stimulus and ask
to respond the first things that comes in the
mind.
Ex. Brand recall, brand personality
 Case: Procter & Gamble (Attitude of women
toward dirt)
Research Problem: To study women’s attitude
towards detergent.
Background of case:
 List of words and response of two women of
similar households and age were recorded.
 Set of response were quite different
suggesting that women differ in personality
and their attitude towards house keeping.
 Findings
• Mrs. A association suggest that she doesn’t
like hard cleaning.
• Mrs. B association suggests that she is ready
to combat dirt with soap.
• Market of detergent can be segmented on the
basis of their attitude.
• In 2009, P&G led the market offering with a
no. of brands in detergent.
• Research findings of the above case had
helped in positioning their detergent.
 Completion Techniques
Is a projective technique that requires the respondents
to complete an incomplete stimulus situation.
In Story Completion respondents are provided with
part of a story and require to give the conclusion in
their own words.
In Sentence Completion, respondents are given
incomplete sentence and asked o complete them.
Generally, they are asked to use first word or phrase
that comes in mind.
Example:
When I think of shopping in a department store, I….
A person who shops, at Pantaloon is….
 Story Completion
Rita had worked hard all day long, cleaning her
apartment. She was tired but wanted to reward herself
with a meal in one of the restaurant down the street.
Upon entering the restaurant, she was seated in a
comfortable chair and given a menu. After reading it
over, Rita decided upon a Caesar salad, French onion
soup, and bread with mater paneer. Some 15 min.
later, a waiter came around to take her order. Time
slowly passed and Rita was getting hungrier. Finally,
about 45 min. after her order had been taken, Rita was
about to leave when she saw the waiter approaching
with her food. What happens next? List 20 things that
Rita will do, say, think or feel as the story continuer.
 Construction Technique
Is a projective technique in which respondent is
required to construct the response in the form of a
story, dialogue or description.
Picture Response: It was done by VISA card. A
picture was given to the respondents to perception
about the personality of the co.
Findings: Co. came to know that market had a
feminine personality perception about he Co.
Action: VISA had an agreement with NFL(National
Football League) to sponsored their matches,
basically to change its personality.
 Expressive Technique
Is a projective technique in which respondents
are presented with a verbal or visual situation
and asked to relate the feelings and attitude of
other people to the situation.
Ex. Role playing, Ad made playes in B- Schools.
 Case: Continental Airlines (what will neighbor say?)
This was done after hijacking case in September 2001
Research Problem:
To understand why some people do not fly?
Background of Case:
• When respondents were asked “Are you afraid of flying?” very
few said ” Yes”
• The major reason given were cost, bad weather and delay.
• Instead it, respondents were asked ” Do you think your
neighbor is afraid to fly?”
Findings: The answer indicated that t he most of the neighbor
who travelled by other mode of transportation were afraid to fly.
Action : Co. succeeded to gain the faith of the customers as now
they thought that Co. concerned a lot for he safety.