THE RELMBJLITY QP PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES: REVfEw QF THE LITERATURR

Logically, though not historically, projective techniques must be regarded as a part of the general field of psychological measurement. Projective testing and research may therefore legitimately be studied within the theoretical and methodologicall framework of psychological measurement, always keeping in mind, of course, the problems that are peculiar to projective techniques. Largely as a.. result of the historically separate development of projective techn~que!~ outside the traditions of psy&ological measurement, this prominent type of psychological testing 3as practically ignored a central concept cd psychological test thearsy, namely, r~etiubiti~~. Reliability is seldom mentioned in the projective literature. Occasionally one finds estimates of the reliability of a particular tecb.nique ; but more often, where reliability is menticjned at all, it is merely to acknowledge the exWnc.e of the problem. The prob!cm itself is seldom taken seriously. The general attitude is wftll express& in Symonds’ statement that “ . . . the concept of reliability loses its importance with a projective technique whose purpose is not so much to measure as to describe . . . The accuracy and the consistr:,~cy which are expected from tests are arot looked for in projective techniques” (47, p. 44). Frank, in his well-known monograph Projective Methods (22, Ch. V) builds up an elaborate, though fallacious, argument that the psychometric concepts of reliability and validity do not apply to projective tests. In her overview of thirty years of Rorschach research, Hertz (27) does not mention reliability. Cronbach (12), in his review of statistical methods in Rorschach research, reports fallacious methods of estimating reliability among some of the few studies aimed at this problem. Cronbach was led to conclude: “No entirely suitable method for estimating Rorschach reliability now exists. Studies in this .---._l United States Public Health Service Research Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Hedth.