Unit 2:

Projective Technique
• Introspective techniques require the subject to describe himself whereas projective
techniques call upon the individual to interpret objects other than him.
• These objects may be pictures, incomplete sentences, drawing etc.
• Individual is presented with a series of ambiguous forms or pictures and is asked to
describe what he sees.
• Projective techniques are so named because they induce the individual to project
himself into the test situation and thus reveal his motives, attitudes, apprehension and
aspirations.
• Individual projects his own personality through the responses just as a film projector
projects the image on the screen. Hence the name projective technique.
• There are many projective tests-
➢ Sentence completion
➢ Drawing
➢ Doll play
➢ Ink blot
➢ Thematic appreciation test

Merits of projective techniques:

1. They provide some of the information needed to obtain a better understanding of the
individual. Like attitude, beliefs, interests etc of an individual.
2. They can be administered either individually or in groups.
3. They can be used for children, verbally challenged, mentally challenged and illiterate
people. This is possible because the test is non verbal also.

4. Projective tests catch the subject off guard i.e. students don’t come to know that they
are being observed.
5. This technique presents the person with a relatively non structured situation. This
technique is not structured like quantitative technique in which the person already is
aware of what may be asked to do.
6. They provide a view of the total functioning of an individual. Through this technique we
come to know all the qualities of an individual like his/her interest, attitude dislikes etc.

Demerits of Projective Technique:

1. It is time consuming technique. As this technique is used for individual students so
needs a lot of time for observing.
2. It requires expertise for observing, recording and interpreting the data.
3. This technique is very susceptible to subjective feelings of the scorer. Even after
proper guidelines used for interpretation still view of the observer may interfere like any
prejudices, halo & horn effect.
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Sentence Completion Tests:
• In this test incomplete sentences are given to the students and they are asked to
complete it.
• When students complete the sentence we come to know the feelings of the students.
• Ex: My teacher ____________________________________________
• I don’t understand _________________________________________
• Things that bother me in school ______________________________
• In all the above sentences students will write their own feelings and we come to know
students adjustment in particular areas.
• Teacher can use this test to know about her teaching style, methods used evaluation
techniques etc. and improve upon them. Through this test we also come to know
students inter & intra personal adjustment.

Demerit of sentence completion:

1. Students may not give true or honest answer.

Drawing:
• It is a recognized fact that a child has a natural desire to express himself in some form
like art, music, crafts etc.
• Students depending upon their mental set they make different drawings, models or
listen to different kind of music.
• The picture drawn by an individual may not be meaningful for a layman, but a picture
speaks a thousand words.
• A picture tells the interest, attitude, belief, adjustment, likes & dislikes of a student.
• A picture gives a lot of information about the desires & repressed feelings of children.
• This test can be easily used for children, illiterate individuals, and verbally challenged
children.
• This test is free from any kind of fake response. A child is asked to draw a picture and
he does not know that he is going to be judged on the picture.

Demerit of Drawing:
1. Analysis of the picture requires an expert.
2. This test can also be subjective as observer’s experience can interfere the decision.

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Sociometric Techniques:
• Sociometric techniques are useful in evaluating the personal-social adjustments of a
pupil.
• Sociometry is concerned with how well an individual is seen and accepted by his
peers.
• Sociometric techniques have been constantly used by teachers and students for many
purposes like for choosing a monitor, selecting a captain of a group, while distributing
work for a project, while giving various playing positions in a game.
• Main aim of this technique is to take out true feelings of an individual about his peers
and this way we come to know the qualities that each member possesses.
• There are two tests used under this technique:
• Peer Appraisal (Guess Who Technique)
• Nominating Technique (Sociogram)
• In both the above tests students are indirectly asked about the qualities of their peer.
This can be done by asking questions like who is the friendly girl in the class or who
should be the monitor of the class.

Merits of Sociometric Techniques:

1. They reveal information about the personal – social adjustment of students.
2. This is a very economical technique in terms of time & money. Teachers can ask
questions any time and any place.
3. These techniques are used in studies of leadership, friendship patterns, group
structure, public opinion & social tension.

Sociometric data can be used for-

➢ Organizing classroom groups.

➢ To improve the social climate
➢ To improve the social structure of the group
➢ To help those who have been isolated become more acceptable to their peers.
➢ To study the effects of certain experiences on a group structure.
➢ To study the relationship between a group structure & such factors as sex, religion,
color, age etc.
➢ To study the stability of a group.

Demerits of Sociometric Techniques:

1. The data are only as valid as the rapport that exists between the student & teacher. It
also depends upon the student’s willingness to give honest response.
2. The data only reveals relationships. They do not establish casual relationships. Ex: this
technique will tell whether a student is introvert, but it cannot make the student
extrovert.
3. The relationships are not necessarily stable. All the relations change every time
depending upon the situation, so interpretations may not be valid after some time.

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Peer Appraisal Method:
• It is useful in evaluating characteristics like popularity, leadership ability, concern for
popularity, leadership ability, concern for others, can be determined by this technique.
• Peer members or group is the judge and thus results obtained are true.
• For this the traits that we are going to study must be within student’s experimental
background. Ex: As teachers we can study the punctuality, but we cannot study their
behavior with their siblings.
• All the results must be kept confidential, as it may affect the student’s mindset.
• Under peer appraisal we use a method called Guess Who.

Guess Who?
• Each pupil is given a list of descriptions & asked to name the pupil who best fits the
description.
• In this the pupil can include his/her name if he believes he has the qualities or else any
other name.
• Ex: the girl who is very friendly, always ready to help others & supports in problems.
_________________.
• After each statement or question teacher sees the responses obtained frequently by
the students and interprets about the characteristics of the student.
• It is very easy to administer as it is very simple.
• It is useful for children at primary stage.
• Is a student is very shy and alone then teacher can help that individual to socialize.

Nominating Technique (Sociogram):

• This is similar to guess who technique as it is also useful for studying the social
structure of the group.
• Qualities like leadership and qualities related to social group are better studied in this
compared to guess who.
• It helps to study Childs position and status within the group.
• Instead of asking to name a person with description in this method teacher asks pupil
to nominate the person with whom he would like to work, sit, study etc.
• Ex: A committee is constituted in a class & students are asked to name a student for
the post of treasurer. Any name student gives will have the qualities needed for a
treasurer like honesty, good mathematical skills etc.
• This method tells the kind of group present in a class. Ex: if all the students have same
decision then it is a homogenous group & if decisions vary than it is a heterogeneous
group.