A comparison of three projective techniques: Lessons learned from a business research class

Abstract

Although projective techniques are becoming more popular in the business field, the techniques are mainly adopted to explore consumer purchasing behavior and the consumer's perception towards brand. It is interesting to note that a limited number of studies in the management field have been conducted in order to compare different results from the application of different projective techniques. Therefore, this research has been conducted using three different projective techniques: word association, sentence completion, and cartoon test aimed at exploring how to apply each technique effectively when a respondent has no experience with this projective research method. Sixty-six respondents participated in this research. They were Thai students, registered for a business research class in a Master of Management degree course. Some of them had experience in conducting research at bachelor level but were inexperienced with projective techniques. Each respondent was required to apply three projective techniques to examine their perception of a Japanese product. After the students had completed the assignment, focus groups were conducted. In terms of applying the techniques effectively, the research results revealed that the respondents had different perceptions on different techniques. Comparing the three techniques, respondents expressed that the order least difficult to most difficult technique was; word association, sentence completion, and cartoon test. This is because the word association technique in this study is slightly adapted from a general format. The adaption is similar to the one used during a popular television program where people are asked to share three words, expressing an idea. By familiarity with the three word expressions, respondents could generate an idea of a Japanese product quickly and easily. The characteristic of sentence completion helped stimulate ideas for inexperienced respondents. On the application of a cartoon test with inexperienced respondents, a step by step clarification of how to fill up a balloon dialogue was considered as a crucial initial step in order to obtain the expected research results. Moreover, clear explanations help prevent misunderstandings and allow researchers to obtain more useable resulting material. Furthermore, introduction of the famous Japanese cartoon, "Doraemon", which was known to all respondents, produced a positive stimulus for expressing their perception of a Japanese product. Thus with inexperienced respondents, different techniques provide different results. Therefore, the decision to select an appropriate technique should be made according to the purpose of the research. Finally, adaption of the three techniques to render them more familiar to inexperienced respondents is suggested in order to obtain greater participation and therefore expose more insightful, truer and accurate feelings.