Projective Techniques and

Sort-Based Research Methods

Projective Techniques and Sort-Based Research Methods offers a brief

introductory guide to the use of these exciting, innovative and often artistic
approaches to students and researchers who have no prior knowledge of these.
This book brings together a wide range of examples of projective and
mapping techniques that offer the ideal methodology for researchers wishing
to collect less controlled and filtered material that tap the deeper levels of the
conscious and subconscious to reveal a more profound, richer and hidden
level of response. It presents the techniques in a way that will enable the
reader to appreciate their nature and to choose an appropriate method for
their own research. Information is also provided that allows readers to design
and implement their own projective or sort-based approaches. Each of the
approaches the authors present is concisely described, and their usages are
explained, along with references and examples of the applied usage of the
respective technique.
The book is a valuable reading for researchers from a wide range of
academic disciplines within the social sciences, humanities, business studies,
marketing and so forth. The book is an introductory guide, but it will be
appropriate for use with undergraduate, post-graduate and research students.
It will also be of great use to professionals working in the areas of consumer
behaviour, marketing and communications.

Paul M. W. Hackett is a professor and author with positions at universities in

the US, the UK and Nigeria. He is the author of more than 250 publications,
including over 25 books. He is the originator of the declarative mapping
approach to social science and humanities research, with PhDs in both
psychology and fine-art.

James M. Suvak is an Emerson College graduate. He majored in marketing

communications and discovered his passion for research after taking a course
with Paul Hackett. James now continues his journey in the field of research
and marketing by working at a consulting firm in Boston.

Ava Gordley-Smith is a PhD candidate whose work focuses on theoretical

and applied research methodologies in the social sciences and creative
disciplines. She is engaged in several writing and research projects,
utilising ecology-centric and sociological methodologies as an approach to
constructing both marketing and brand strategies. Ava has over ten years
of marketing management experience and an MA in strategic marketing
communication from Emerson College.
Projective Techniques
and Sort-Based Research
Methods

Paul M. W. Hackett,
James M. Suvak
and Ava Gordley-Smith
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2023 Paul M. W. Hackett, James M. Suvak and Ava
Gordley-Smith
The right of Paul M. W. Hackett, James M. Suvak and Ava
Gordley-Smith to be identified as authors of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-25967-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-25968-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-28589-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Paul dedicates this book to Jessica.
James dedicates this book to Paul Hackett
and Ava Gordley-Smith.
Ava dedicates this book to Emerson
College, Paul Hackett and James Suvak.
Contents

Figures x
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiv

Introduction 1

1 What Are Projective Techniques, Mind

Mapping and Sort-Based Methods? 4
Chapter Summary 4
Introduction 4
Synopsis of Contents 7
Introduction to Projective Techniques 8
History of Projective Techniques 9
Further Background to Projective
Techniques 13
Projective Techniques and Psychological
Theory 14
Conclusion 18

2 Projective Techniques 21
Chapter Summary 21
Introduction 21
The Importance of Context 22
viii Contents
Presenting Projective Techniques 23
Projective Approaches 25
Conclusion 36

3 Sort-Based Methods 38
Chapter Summary 38
Introduction to Sort-Based Approaches 38
Characteristics of Sorting Techniques 39
Opening Phases in Sort Procedures 40
Open Versus Closed Sorting 41
Single Sorts Versus Repeated Sorts 42
Qualitative Sorts Versus Quantitative
Sorts 43
Details of Selected Sort Techniques 44
Conclusion 54

4 Mapping Approaches 57
Chapter Summary 57
Introduction 57
Mind Maps 60
Planning Research 61
Collecting Data 61
Analysing Data 64
Other Types of Mind Maps 65
Semantic Maps 65
Mind Maps Pros and Cons 68
Using Maps to Present Information 69
Conclusion 70

5 Developing Your Own Unique Projective

or Sort Approach 74
Chapter Summary 74
Introduction 74
Introduction to Developing Projective or
Sort Approaches 75
 Contents ix
Projective Approaches and Focus Group
Research 76
Other Forms of Data Gathering 76
An Example of the Development of a Novel
Projective Research Approach 77
Closing Summary of Adapted Technique 81
Conclusion 82

6 The Future of Projective Technique Research 84

Chapter Summary 84
Introduction 84
Critical Social Research 85
Projective Methods in Critical Research 87
Projective Methods as Sensitive Research
Approaches 87
Projective Methods With Individuals in
Marginalised Communities 88
The Declarative Mapping Approach 88
The Move to Digital Research Methods 93
Conclusion 95

7 Conclusion 100
Chapter Summary 100
Summary of the Book 100
Conclusion 102

Reading List 103

Glossary 105
Index 135
Figures

1.1 Example of Rorschach’s Inkblot Test 11

1.2 Examples of House-Tree-Person Test 12
3.1 Illustration of Card Sort 46
3.2 Q-Sort Test Sheet 54
4.1 Example of Mind Map #1 63
4.2 Example of Mind Map #2 63
4.3 Example of Mind Map #3 70
G1 Traditional Mapping Sentence for Experience
at University 115
Preface

Researchers who are interested in human behaviours and the

ways in which human beings experience and make sense of
their worlds are always faced with questions regarding the
best or most applicable way to get hold of the information they
want. The first question a researcher has to satisfy is whether
the information they need to answer their queries already
exists. If the required information does exist, then they may
use this in their project. For example, if I was interested in
the number of people who have died from COVID-19-related
illnesses in 2021, this information is likely to exist, and if my
research question was concerned with the differences in mor-
tality rates between the UK and the US, then again, I could
probably find valid and reliable data to answer such a com-
parative question.
However, if I was concerned not with international
COVID-19 mortality rates but with how residents in a specific
geographical area experienced and were personally impacted
by having COVID-19, then this information may not be
already available. Consequently, I would have to design a
research study that would gather the information I needed
to answer this question, first-hand from selected individuals
who have had COVID-19 in the geographical region in which
I was interested. As this therefore requires me to gather new
or original data, the next question that I need to ask is how
I should design my research project so that it will avail me of
the type of information I need to answer my specific questions
xii Preface
regarding these personal experiences. The pre-existing proce-
dures that I employ, or novel approaches that I could develop,
to gather the information that I desire will access responses
and various aspects of an individual’s experiences as assessed
in a wide variety of ways.1
There are very many research approaches that may be used
in social science and humanities research. A considerably
large number of books also exist on social science research
approaches in general and also on specific aspects and spe-
cialisations within this domain. However, when we did a com-
prehensive search of the literature, we discovered that there
are practically no books that specifically and exclusively
address the social science research approaches that fall under
the banner of the particular form of research method known
as projective techniques. There are chapters and sections of
larger textbooks that do concern themselves with projective
methods, but this is scant coverage of the necessity of these
being small sections in larger texts. As well as these chapters
and a number of journal articles, there are also a small number
of rather old and obscure books on the topic. It is therefore the
authors’ main objective to fill this omission in the literature.
As well as filling this gap in the publications that exist on
projective techniques, we, as authors, had several objectives
and desires for the text they set themselves when they started
to write this book. Overall, it was our aim to write a book that
was easily accessible to nascent researchers and also to those
with only minimal research experience. That is to say, we
wanted our text to be easily accessible to a wide range of stu-
dents, academics and professionals without the reader having
to supplement our book with reading about research methods
using other books or articles. We also wanted our book to form
a go-to text: a single volume to which any person wishing to
use a projective approach in their research design would turn.
With these aims in mind, we, therefore, decided that the idea
of providing a comprehensive review of all, or a large number
of, projective techniques would be out of the question as such
a book would be large, unwieldy and not easy to use. This size
of such definitive and comprehensive text may also put novice
 Preface xiii
researchers off attempting to even take the book off the shelf!
As a consequence of these initial aims and stipulations for
the text, early on in the writing of this book, we decided to be
extremely selective in the examples of the different projective
approaches that we included in the book. Selecting projective
approaches was not a simple task as these are so diverse in
their content and the ways in which they are used.
It is our belief that projective techniques are particularly
useful forms of social science research methods for several
reasons. The first of our justifications for viewing projective
techniques in such a positive manner comes from the fact that
the use of projectives in research grew out of their use in psy-
chotherapy. In these forms of therapeutic situations, projec-
tive techniques are used during client and patient interactions
in order to uncover or reveal latent, suppressed and other con-
tent of which the client may not be consciously aware. The
term “projective” comes from this therapeutic context and
refers to the notion that if a client is presented with a stimulus
that is to them neutral (neutral in reference to the issues the
client is seeking help with), then they will project repressed
emotions and thoughts upon these stimuli. Another reason for
our advocacy of projective techniques is due to our belief that
these procedures have the potential of minimising the guid-
ing role of the researcher and putting the respondent firmly in
control of their own responses. In the following section, we
will outline the contents of our book.
Paul M. W. Hackett

Note
1 In attempting to access such information, we may employ proce-
dures that delve into short-term, long-term and working memory,
an individual’s visual abilities/spatial abilities and verbal (often
word-based) abilities.
Acknowledgements

Paul’s original idea for a book about projective techniques

grew out of an eventual realisation that there was a need for
this book. The recognition of this requirement has developed
through his interactions with the hundreds of students that have
been in his research classes and who have illustrated to him
the need for a book that is dedicated to projective techniques.
It has been these students’ enquiring minds that engaged with
the process of research, along with his use of projective tech-
niques in his own research, that convinced him of the value
of such a participant-driven form of research method. Paul is
exceptionally grateful to his two colleagues/co-authors, James
M. Suvak and Ava Gordley-Smith, who formed the team that
transformed this book from an idea into a reality.
Ava M. Suvak acknowledges her deep appreciation for the
support, effort and academic rigour of Paul M. W. Hackett and
James M. Suvak during the researching and writing of this
book. She also wants to acknowledge Emerson College, the
influential institution that bound them together by the com-
mon thread of their passion for projective techniques.
Ava Gordley-Smith acknowledges Emerson College as
this book would not have been possible without it. Addition-
ally, James acknowledges the immense support of Paul M.
W. Hackett and Ava Gordley-Smith throughout the writing
process.
Introduction

In the first chapter “What Are Projective Techniques, Mind

Mapping and Sort-Based Methods?”, we present an introduc-
tory outline of projective techniques and their roles in social
science and humanities research. Furthermore, in this introduc-
tory chapter, we give a brief history of projective approaches
and provide a theoretical background to these research meth-
ods, which involve us noting the roots of these approaches in
psychotherapy. It is our intention in this first chapter to provide
enough details to encourage readers with a little background
in this area to continue reading further into the book. We
also hope our writing will be at a level that engages the more
research-experienced reader. In the second chapter, we go into
projective details in greater depth and note the major classes
of projective research techniques such as mapping procedures
and sort-based techniques. In the third chapter, we concentrate
upon one of the main forms of projective techniques: sort-
based procedures. We provide further details of how these
approaches are used, the types of information they produce
and the sort of questions they are most suitable to be used with.
In chapter four, we address another major class of projective
research techniques: mapping procedures. In chapter five, we
turn our attention to the nitty gritty of how a researcher can
develop their own projective technique or approach. This chap-
ter provides detailed information for researchers of all levels
who desire to use a projective means of data gathering but
cannot identify a pre-existing procedure that they feel exactly

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-1
2 Introduction
fits their research’s needs. In the sixth chapter, we attempt to
see into the future with our crystal balls in the hope of predict-
ing the direction in which we believe projective approaches to
research may progress in the future, and we make suggestions
in regard to the research areas in which we believe projective
approaches may be beneficially used. We start by suggesting
that projectives are especially suited for use in critical social
research, which attempts to uncover systemic and individual
biases against people based upon race and other characteris-
tics. We also suggest that, due to the ways in which projective
techniques are particularly responsive and sensitive to input
from participants, projective techniques have a potential util-
ity and are especially suited when conducting research into
sensitive research topics and with individuals from marginal-
ised communities. We next consider using projectives within
the conceptual system and framework for conducting social
science research known as the declarative mapping approach,
and finally, we consider how since the COVID-19 pandemic,
much human subject research has moved online and suggest
the potential usefulness of projective approaches as digital
research methods. In chapter 7, our final chapter, we provide
a terse synopsis of the content of the book’s content. Whilst
chapter 7 is the final chapter, we have two sections that fol-
low it. First section provides a short reading list of books and
articles that we believe would be of both interest and benefit
to readers who wish to delve a little more deeply into projec-
tive approaches. Finally, we offer a glossary of the important
research terms in this book and other important research terms.
We provide the glossary because, as we stated in the intentions
for the book in this preface, we wish that this book stand alone
as a guide for using projective techniques for novices to these
approaches and indeed novices to social science research in
a general sense. The glossary is therefore included to enable
neophyte researchers to clarify terms they may not be familiar
with without having to look these up externally to our text. We
have also included some terms that do not appear in the text
but that we feel are important terms and concepts that some-
one using a projective technique may encounter.
 Introduction 3
It should be noted that this book has been written with a
large and broad audience in mind. The book should appeal
to many academic disciplines within the social sciences and
humanities. The book will also be of use and interest to pro-
fessionals in marketing research and marketing fields.
The authors of this book have different degrees of contact
and types of experiences with projective techniques. They also
have different academic and professional backgrounds and
experiences. However, one thing we authors have in common
is that we are passionate about conducting social science and
humanities research and through our encounters with projec-
tive research have developed a respect for these techniques.
1 What Are Projective
Techniques, Mind Mapping
and Sort-Based Methods?

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, it is appropriate that we commence by intro-
ducing readers to the subject matter of the book, namely,
projective techniques that may be used in social science
and humanities research and by professionals in marketing.
It also seems appropriate that we commence this introduc-
tion by considering where projective techniques come from,
their history and theoretical background, which will include
a brief reflection upon their origins in psychoanalytic theory,
psychoanalysis and therapeutic approaches. We hope that this
book will be used as a guide to using projective approaches by
those who have little or no background in using projectives.
Therefore, this chapter aims to whet the appetite of those
coming newly to projectives, and we hope that rewarding this
will make them want to learn more about these and to read
further into this book. It is also our intention that there we
will provide enough detail so as to engage the researcher who
is somewhat experienced with projective techniques, and that
they will also find the book interesting and of use to them.

Introduction
This is an exciting and fascinating book!
This is a bold claim that we make with conviction. The rea-
son for our confidence is that the subject matter of this slim

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-2
 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 5
volume is something with which we are all concerned and is
something that human beings have spent centuries trying to
understand. Indeed, we have even conjured up gods, demons
and other embellished and exaggerated, mysterious and won-
derful processes to provide us with an understanding of what
may be called hidden motives or why we do what we do and
make the choices we make. We have a desire to predict and
understand human behaviour, and we may ask for instance:

• Why did you vote for Biden rather than Trump or Johnson
rather than Corbin, Truss rather than Sunak?
• Why do you drive the make and model of that car you
drive?
• Why do you think the Thingvellir valley is the most beau-
tiful place you have ever visited?
• How do you choose between going out to the movies or
staying in tonight?

All of the questions and the millions and millions of other

questions that human beings resolve every day are, to a
greater or lesser extent, asked and answered subconsciously.
We are constantly attempting to predict the world around us
by gathering information through our senses and relating this
to our memories so that we may foretell what will happen in
the future. So, it does seem reasonable to say that this book,
concerned as it is with attempting to reveal the human motiva-
tions that underlie the decisions that we make on a daily basis,
addresses issues that are of great interest to us all.
When we think about it, there are many ways through
which we may attempt to discover why someone else does
what they do. The most direct approach that is available to
us is simply to ask them. However, this assumes that they
know why they did the thing we are interested in discover-
ing their motives about, and that they will report what they
know honestly to us. Another way that we may attempt to
understand human behaviour is to accurately observe some-
one’s actions. However, simply seeing someone do something
may allow us to understand what they did but tells us little
6 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
as to why they did this and if they are likely to do this again.
This then puts us in a position where we may have to fol-
low up our observations by asking a person why they acted
as they did. Furthermore, whether we directly ask someone a
question, in person or by using a questionnaire, if we observe
someone committing an action or if we employ a myriad of
other data-gathering techniques, it is implicitly assumed that
the person we are conducting research upon is consciously
aware of their motivations and that they are willing and able
to accurately report these to us. In reality, this assumption is
often not upheld. The reason for this inaccuracy is down to
many reasons. For example, someone may buy a certain make
and model of car, and when asked why they purchased this
specific car, they may cite performance figures, depreciation
costs being low, safety features and so forth. However, they
may well have purchased this car simply because they liked
the colour or wanted to impress their neighbours. The inac-
curate statements that someone may make can be for several
reasons. For instance, a person may make a report of their
motives in order to impress us as researchers, to appear politi-
cally correct, environmentally aware, wealthy, for fun and so
on. Inaccuracy in the reports we may receive may also stem
from their subconscious responses and the individual we are
talking to may be positively or negatively inclined towards a
specific response and may not even be aware of this inclina-
tion: for example, they may just have an almost visceral reac-
tion to the car.
As a consequence of these and other difficulties associated
with the validity of verbal reports given to by respondents,
researchers decided that it would be beneficial to develop
techniques and methods that could avoid these inaccuracies.
One of the attempts that researchers have made in this regard
is the creation of methods that aim to tap into the sub- or pre-
conscious reactions and motivations that individuals have to
the world around them. These forms of data-gathering tech-
niques are the subject of our writing in this book and are
known as projective techniques, mind mapping techniques
and sort-based methods.1
 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 7
Within anthropology, it is often said that the aim of the
research is to look at our everyday activities and try to make
the familiar strange and the strange familiar (Miner, 1956),
and whilst this statement is not directly referring to projec-
tive research techniques, the aim behind the use of projective
approaches is similar. The techniques we present in our book
also attempt to adopt what anthropologists call an emic per-
spective rather than an etic approach, where the emic types
of research attempt to present the perspectives of those being
studied. Conversely, an etic approach offers the perspective of
those making the observations or doing the research (e.g. see
Dundes, 1962; Jingfeng, 2013). Projective techniques, mind
mapping and sort approaches all make efforts to offer a deeply
personal and emic perspective of those participating in the
research.

Synopsis of Contents
In our writing in this first chapter, we will start with an intro-
duction to projective techniques which will be followed by
a brief presentation of the history of projective techniques.
In the next part of the chapter, we review the origins in psy-
choanalysis and therapeutic approaches of the techniques we
consider. Next, we look at the background of projective tech-
niques, including their theoretical bases. Finally, we sum up
the chapter with some concluding thoughts.
This book is intended as a guide to using the aforementioned
techniques. We hope that readers who have no experience at
all with these approaches to research will find the book inter-
esting and stimulating and impel them to use these data gath-
ering in their own research. It is similarly our ambition that
more experienced researchers will also find the book interest-
ing and of use to them. As our writing is primarily intended to
first introduce and then provide usage suggestions for projec-
tive and other techniques to those who are interested in using
these, the text will concentrate on application. The theory and
history that underpin the approaches will be provided in such
a way that these will assist readers to understand the uses and
8 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
limitations of the approaches and will enable them to better
contextualise the approaches we cover.
Within this book, we conceive of projective techniques in a
broad manner, and in this first chapter, we will provide a back-
ground and an introduction to the projective techniques that
we will include in our considerations. This introduction will
take the form of a presentation of the background and theory
to the many projective techniques, sort procedures and men-
tal mapping as data-gathering approaches that exist. A very
brief history of projective techniques will be provided as will
their origins in psychoanalytic theory, psychoanalysis and as
therapeutic approaches, and we will touch upon and present
some of their academic psychological origins in works such
as George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory (Bannister and
Fransella, 2019; Kelly, 1963, 1992a, 1992b, 2019; Winter
and Reed, 2015) and the repertory grid technique (Fransella,
2003; Hayes, 2013).

Introduction to Projective Techniques

The projective techniques methodology is a form of qualita-
tive scientific research (Nunez, 2018; Projective Methods) that
aims at uncovering the unconscious motivation and decision-
making process. These approaches are designed to stimulate
a respondent through the presentation to them of potentially
ambiguous stimuli in order to discover deep-rooted and con-
cealed proclivities, behaviours and various other forms of per-
sonal data. Psychology research, and indeed our own personal
experiences, has led us to believe that human beings lack true
rationality and quite often have a limited awareness of their
own subconscious. This insufficient self-awareness may often
result in the inability for the individual to grasp their own rea-
sonings and desires. Projective techniques assist to bring forth
these obscured motivations and values and may enable us to
gain a more comprehensive understanding of a behaviour as a
whole. Projective techniques are most widely used in psycho-
analytic theory, clinical psychology, social psychology and
cultural anthropology.
 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 9
Although there are many tactical differences amongst the
techniques themselves, the commonalities shared are suffi-
cient enough to stand them apart from alternative personal-
ity measures, such as inventories, ratings or situational tests
(e.g. see: Chamorro-Premuzic, 2015; Butcher, 2010). Projec-
tive techniques collectively share a relatively unstructured
and ambiguous nature. These shared frameworks ultimately
require the participants to apply meaning, therefore revealing
fundamental information about themselves.
Historically, Projective techniques have been categorised
into five groupings: association techniques, construction
techniques, choice or ordering techniques, expression tech-
niques and completion techniques (Linzey, 1959). These tech-
niques may be exemplified in the Rorschach’s Inkblot Test
(Rorschach, 1921), Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
(Aronow et al., 2001; Reznikoff, 2001), Draw-A-Person Test
and Sentence Completion Test. The following section of this
book will aim to offer a brief overview of the historical mark-
ings in the development of Projective techniques.

History of Projective Techniques

The genesis of projective techniques arguably dates back
to the creativity of the Neanderthal species of humans in
cave paintings at least 64,000 years ago. People’s fascina-
tion with drawing deeper meaning from visual stimuli such
as art, clouds and dreams (Freud, 1953) reveals a desire
to gain a deeper understanding of themselves, and reflex-
ively reveals the ability for ambiguous stimuli to unearth
these greater contexts (Klopfer, 1973). The contemporary
usage of projective techniques began to prosper in the lat-
ter half of the 19th century, woven closely within the use
of psychoanalysis (Rabin, 2001). Psychologist Sir Francis
Galton developed the word association method as a way to
test and measure intellect. Galton (1879) gave the respond-
ent a stimulus word and four seconds to determine as many
associated words as they could. Although he failed to con-
nect intellect to this particular analysis, his work sparked the
10 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
continued development of projective techniques as a form of
measurement (Simonton, 2003). Inspired by Galton’s work,
the prominent Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl
Jung helped to standardise the word association technique
as a form of projective testing. Jung’s test consisted of 1,000
stimulus words and asked participants to answer with the
first words that came to mind as fast as possible. According
to Jung (1910), those who responded with significant delay
would be likely to have a “complex” moreover an “inferior-
ity complex” from an emotional disturbance. Circa the same
time Freud was theorising the analysis of dreams and devel-
oping his dominant psychoanalytic method of dream inter-
pretation (Rorschach, 1921).
The turn of the century marked a large leap forward for pro-
jective techniques. The period following World War I instilled
momentum in the development of aptitude and ability tests
as exemplified by the Stanford-Binet and various group tests.
The clinical psychology usage of projective techniques dates
back to the early 20th century and was first noted in 1925
by Hermann Rorschach’s book Psychodiagnostik, detailing
his famed Inkblot Projective Test technique. Rorschach was
a follower of Carl Jung and agreed with Jung’s psychoana-
lytic practices and opinions. Like Jung, Rorschach believed
that the unconsciousness held people’s innermost conflicts
and moreover that these might be unveiled through one’s
reaction to ambiguous stimuli. Rorschach’s Inkblot Test (see
Figure 1.1) aimed to predict the nature of one’s personality
such as a measure of introversion or extroversion by observ-
ing the respondent’s response to an image of a blot of ink on
paper. Rorschach’s work led to numerous adaptations of his
methods.
Not long after Rorschach’s developments, Henry Murray
and Christiana Morgan (Douglas, 1993) developed the TAT
in 1935. Unlike Rorschach’s Inkblot Test which sought to
analyse and reveal the uncommon facets of the participant’s
personalities, the TAT looked to measure the common traits.
The TAT presented images to the respondent illustrating one
or more individuals interacting ambiguously and then asked
the participant to develop a story for the individual(s) in the
 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 11

Figure 1.1 Example of Rorschach’s Inkblot Test

image. The stories told were to identify needs such as achieve-

ment and companionship (Klopfer, 1973).
Sentence completion became more prominent in the first
few decades of the 20th century. An example of this might look
like, “I am sad because _____. This technique was essentially
offering the stem of a sentence to the participant and then ask-
ing them to complete it. An example of this might look like,
“I am happy with _____” (Rhode, 1957). This method intends
to reveal underlying fantasies, thoughts or emotional conflicts
more than would happen through the presentation of a direct
question (Weiner and Greene, 2008). Carl Jung is noted as the
first to use sentence completion techniques to analyse respond-
ents’ personalities (Hersen, 2003). Although widely used, in
the 1950s, this form of technique became controversial for its
inconsistent and difficult ability to gather standardised meas-
urements. This growing concern sparked an increased demand
for standardisation and continued iterations.
12 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
Goodenough and Harris developed the Goodenough-Harris
Test in the 1930s as an approach to measure intelligence through
the expression of drawing (Meyer et al., 2020). Buck amended
this form and introduced his version as the House-Tree-Person
Test in 1949. This test consisted of asking the participants to
draw a house, a tree and a person and would aim to once
again reveal intelligence. Karen Machover also modified the
Goodenough-Harris Test and created the Draw-A-Person
Test, which aimed to analyse the personality of the respond-
ent by asking them to draw a man, a woman and themselves
in the picture. Machover (1949) additionally published a book
to assist this process. See Figure 1.2 for examples.

Figure 1.2 Examples of House-Tree-Person Test

 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 13
Further Background to Projective
Techniques
Projectives’ origins lie within the field of psychology and are
commonly used in qualitative research, especially as a part
of a focus group or an in-depth interview. The goal in using
projective tests is to extract deep-seated attitudes and motiva-
tions that are often not revealed through traditional question-
ing. Projectives (also referred to as projective techniques or
projective exercises) typically encourage respondents to open
up and express their emotions by participating in a creative
activity or inventive game. Imaginatively designed projective
exercises that place respondents in amusing situations and
environments tend to motivate them to drop defence mecha-
nisms and disclose raw feelings and thoughts about the topic
in question. Projective techniques allow researchers enter the
subconscious mind of respondents by breaking down their
fortifications, which empowers respondents to divulge their
subjective or true opinions and beliefs about brands, events,
products, services, concepts, objects and so forth.
Projective exercises are not limited to being used when
direct inquiries are met with hesitant answers from respond-
ents. For instance, respondents may be sometimes uncon-
scious in regard to their beliefs or motivations, could have
trouble articulating these or might be cautious when answer-
ing direct questions due to fear of societal norms. To combat
these issues, some projectives are composed using a third-
person approach in order to make respondents feel less con-
fronted with the line of questioning associated with a research
exercise. Hopefully, by not addressing direct questions to
participants, they may, almost inadvertently, reveal their true
opinions and feelings.
Projective techniques can be used in countless types of stud-
ies and applications. However, they tend to be most advanta-
geous in situations that require the unveiling of subconscious
behaviours, perceptions and values. Projectives can be ben-
eficial in qualitative research settings, and researchers should
give serious thought to the possible benefits of their using
one or many exercise(s) in either a focus group, an in-depth
14 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
interview or as a stand-alone approach to gathering informa-
tion. When it comes to implementing projective techniques
into a study, researchers should carefully examine and select
between the different projective approaches that are available
in order to end up using one that is designed to reveal infor-
mation appropriate to their enquiries. Determining the appro-
priate exercise for the session to achieve quality results is
difficult, but a researcher’s understanding and analysis of the
different forms of projectives available will improve through
time and experience.
When researchers share with participants their intent to
use a projective exercise in a session, the procedure may be
explained in a manner that clearly describes the procedure to
the participant whilst not being overly prescriptive in terms
of what they expect the participant to produce. This will then
allow ambiguous stimuli to be presented and for the partici-
pant, whilst understanding the procedure they are complet-
ing, to be placed into a situation that lets them “project” their
thoughts and feelings onto neutral stimuli. The outcome and
answers from these exercises are commonly followed up
on with a more in-depth dialogue and discussion between
the researcher and the participant. Generally, when projec-
tives are inserted into a session, respondents are instructed to
work individually. This is a crucial step in the process, as it
ensures that participants will not only offer their own unique
interpretations of the specific projective exercise but also not
influence other participants’ responses and any bias will be
eliminated.

Projective Techniques and Psychological

Theory
The theoretical assumption that underlies projective tech-
niques is that when a particular question is proposed, the
answer will be carefully and consciously constructed and
socially determined. These responses may therefore not
accurately represent the participant’s unconscious or hidden
 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 15
motivations or attitudes. The respondent’s true opinions
and beliefs may not be cognisant of the respondent or the
respondent may not be able to precisely articulate them in a
satisfactory manner to the questioner. Projective techniques
consist of using ambiguous stimuli or situations in order for
the respondents to “project” their personality, opinions, atti-
tudes or beliefs to shape the situation (Donoghue, 2000). It
is believed that projective exercises may help uncover par-
ticipants’ concealed or latent thoughts and feelings about a
specific situation or stimuli. These feelings and thoughts are
unique to the respondent: in other words, the participants
express their individuality. In addition, projectives are used
to unearth respondents’ own perspective on their world and
how to act and behave in it. The concept of “projection” is
commonly viewed as a defence mechanism that people use
to protect themselves by compartmentalising their more cav-
ernous thoughts and feelings (Gordon and Langmaid, 1988,
p. 95). The theory of projective techniques is that they are
based on the idea that unconscious beliefs and behaviours
can be inferred by presenting a participant with ambiguous
stimuli to encourage them to deploy their defence mechanism
of projection. The respondent has the freedom to interpret
and answer the stimuli (projection technique) in their own
way (Loudon and Della Bitta, 1993, p. 300). Since there are
no right or wrong answers, it is expected that participants
will project their unconscious thoughts and feelings in their
responses.
Having briefly described the background and rationale to
projective techniques, we will now consider the background
and rationale to two of the major sub-types of projective tech-
niques, namely, sort procedures and mapping (Lemov, 2011).

Background of Sort Procedures

Sorting, by definition, is the process of systematically arrang-
ing, grouping and categorising items according to particular
characteristics. There are many forms of sorting procedures
16 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
that are used in research but the most well-known is probably
the procedure designed by William Stephenson in the late
1930s, Q-methodology. Q-methodology, also referred to as
Q-sort, was originally created with the intention of investigat-
ing “subjectivity” or perspectives, attitudes, viewpoints and
motivations. Q-methodology is a research method that origi-
nates from psychology and social sciences and was developed
in order to be used in both clinical settings and research set-
tings. This methodology has proved to be valuable in a quali-
tative research setting as it allows researchers to understand
respondents’ processes of understanding and thought. The
ultimate goal of these techniques is to aid researchers’ analy-
sis of how people evaluate and categorise pictures. In broader
terms, Q-methodology provides a unique way of using visual
stimuli to examine participants’ mental concepts. Overall, sort
methodologies such as card-sorting or picture-sorting do not
require verbal responses but instead, visuals or photographs
are given to respondents, who will then sort them into catego-
ries and groups, and rank them in order or identify any com-
monalities between them, depending on the sorting method in
use. We have spoken in the above paragraph, but all forms of
sort procedure are essentially similar in their overall or funda-
mental approach.

Background Mapping Techniques

Traditionally, methodologies used in qualitative research to
collect and analyse data consist of observational methods,
focus groups, in-depth interviews and many other method-
ologies. Interviews are one of the most common approaches
to collecting data in qualitative research sessions. By defi-
nition, an interview is a verbal exchange of information
between one or more respondents and the researcher(s).
While there are numerous ways to conduct an interview (over
the phone, in-person, or virtual), there is a general consensus
about how the data collection is conducted. However, this is
not the case when it comes to the data collection using the
 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping 17
creation of maps in qualitative research. The development
of mind maps by respondents who were flexible and versa-
tile was of gathering information that are rooted in the idea
of respondents creating visual maps of the research subject
areas. Mind maps are best understood as diagrams which
are employed to represent a research domain through the
use of words, concepts and ideas arranged spatially around
a central theme, word or concept. Mind maps are based upon
the notion that participants are able to spatially express their
understanding of the similarities and differences of the sub-
aspects of a research topic in a performative way that reveals
their attitudes, behaviours and general understanding of the
research topic.
Mental maps stem from behavioural geography. By definition,
mental mapping commonly referred to as cognitive mapping is
the production of several psychological processes that take in,
record, store, analyse and organise all information that a person
observes about their spatial environment in their everyday life.
For instance, when a researcher decides to deploy mental maps
as a technique in their study, they are actually attempting to map
the maps we have created in our minds throughout the day. The
goal here is being able to successfully map these individuals’
mind maps to be interpreted with the hope of yielding powerful
insights relevant to the research topic.
In our minds, our frequent use of a physical area defines
and redefines the picture we have of our environments. For
example, let’s look at your commute to work versus a week-
end trip from Boston to Cape Cod. You commute to your
office on State Street in Boston every morning by train and
it takes you roughly one hour to get there. That being said,
it is a destination that is visited on a recurring basis and it
may be perceived as a shorter distance. On the other hand,
the weekend trip to Cape Cod is quite a rare experience. This
may result in the individual perceiving the distance of the
trip to be a lot farther compared to their commute to work,
even if the total travel time is only thirty minutes longer. We
perceive our personal environment as more favourable and
18 Projective Techniques, Mind Mapping
comfortable than other areas that are unknown, or to which
we do not frequently travel, to be peculiar, strange and even
risky.

Conclusion
In this introduction, we have set the stage for our later discus-
sion about projective techniques and we hope that we have
you at the edge of your seat in anticipation. In this chapter,
we introduced you to a brief history of projective techniques
and traced the roots of these approaches within psychoanaly-
sis and psychotherapy. We attempted to acclimate you with
the general concepts surrounding projective approaches and
uses in such a manner that you now feel familiarised and
engaged with projectives and are eager to learn more. Whilst
this chapter worked to establish a base of knowledge, the fol-
lowing chapters will delve much more deeply into the details
and applications of these fascinating research methods. In
the next chapter, we will start to unpack the different projec-
tive approaches that may be used to gather information about
human behaviour and experience.

Note
1 Projective techniques may be given on their own, in a focus group
or interview, or they may form a part of a test battery.

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2 Projective Techniques

Chapter Summary
Having set the scene in chapter one for the rest of the book
and having provided the reader with a general understanding
of the projective approach, in this chapter, we turn to briefly
reviewing a series of different kinds of projective techniques
that may be used in research projects. The different types of
approaches we present are text-based projectives, verbally
based projectives, visually based projectives, mapping tech-
niques and sort methodologies. We discuss the benefit these
approaches have for unencumbered knowledge development
within qualitative research and begin to address the notions of
how these might be integrated into research design.

Introduction
Congratulations, you have made it to chapter two and have
officially opened your eyes, perhaps for the first time, to the
world of projective techniques. This chapter illustrates the
various approaches that fall under the banner of projective
techniques and will equip you with a general understanding
of what they are and how to use them. It must be noted, how-
ever, that projective techniques are not fixed entities. There is
not an absolute system for classifying these techniques, and
the different types of projective techniques may often seem
to simultaneously encompass different approaches to gaining

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-3
22 Projective Techniques
insight into the person being studied. Furthermore, projec-
tive techniques continually grow and are adapted to new situ-
ations, new research questions and new ways of presenting
the technique to an individual and encouraging their interac-
tion with the technique. Perhaps more than any other form of
data gathering, projective techniques may be constructed spe-
cifically for a specific research project. However, with these
points in mind, commonalities amongst projective techniques
are readily discernible, and throughout this book, we divide
projective approaches into the following sections:

• Text-Based Projectives: approaches that use writing or

texts to elicit information from participants
• Verbally Based Projectives: the use of spoken approaches
to facilitate data gathering
• Visually Based Projectives: approaches that employ vis-
ual stimuli, such as pictures, or physical items, as a basis
for gathering data
• Mapping Techniques: asking participants to produce
maps or spatial arrangements of concepts in a map-like
configuration
• Sort Methodologies: approaches that ask respondents to
sort things or concepts into groups or spatial arrangements
• Other Projective Approaches: approaches that do not fall
under the above categories

The Importance of Context

Before we progress with our consideration of projective tech-
niques under the above headings, we want to make a point and
ask you to reflect upon this. The point is that traditionally, a
dichotomy has been established between the researcher and
the person who is the participant, subject or in some other way
providing information for the researcher. In all forms of social
science research and research involving human subjects, we
would argue that such polar differences between the person
doing the research and those providing responses are at least
tenuous if not fallacious. All research is conducted within a
 Projective Techniques 23
physical, temporal and cultural context. Research that is con-
ducted between a researcher and a participant also involves
a social context. Moreover, the information that is gathered
from participants is subjective and richly interlaced with the
experiences of the respondent. The information that is gath-
ered is also understood within a wide variety of contexts.
This is the case with social science research when broadly
understood, but many of these subjective aspects are empha-
sised when using projective techniques. This is due to the fact
that the information that is being gathered through projective
approaches is so highly subjective and hence context-bound.
However, this is also a strength of these approaches as it is
the rich understanding that a person has of an object, issue,
event or state of affairs that is of interest to the researcher,
and attempts are not being made to produce object fact but
rather to encourage subjective and personal interpretations. It
is important, however, that the researcher is aware that the
research situation and their1 presence as a researcher will
inevitably be influential and intrinsically tied in with the
responses the participant commits. With this said and kept in
mind, we will now turn to our consideration of different forms
of projective techniques.

Presenting Projective Techniques

As we discussed in the earlier pages, people carry with them
lots of information that they themselves struggle to retrieve
and comprehend. It is awe-inspiring that simply asking some-
one to complete a sentence has the power to both unveil and
unravel deep-seated thoughts.
Let’s test a text-based projective technique.
Sentence Completion:

Finish the following sentences with the first

word that comes to mind.
• The Russian invasion of Ukraine makes me ___________.
• My doctor is ___________.
24 Projective Techniques
• The clothes she wears are __________.
• When I think about the male dancer I __________.
• Immigrants are ____________.
• The Asian student is __________.

How did you answer those questions? The first thought

that comes to mind may hint at immediate biases. Did your
answers shock you? Were you tempted to adjust your initial
thoughts? Whilst not all questions and answers may provide a
sense of shock or breakthrough, they open an opportunity for
revealing less encumbered or cognitively corrected thinking.
This unencumbered thinking produces knowledge, sometimes
for both the participant and the researcher, and leads to raw
and authentic qualitative data.
Alright, let’s try a technique that is perhaps a bit lighter and
is commonly used when conducting research by marketers
conducting branding projects.
Brand analogies:

• When you see Mcdonald’s what is the first thing you

think of?
• What do you hear when you read, “Taco Bell”?
• What is the first word that comes to mind when you think
of “Patagonia”?
• What colour do you see when you read the word,
“sustainability”?

Your mind is made of countless associations that lay dor-

mant unless called upon. The brilliant frameworks of projec-
tive techniques are cloaked as simple exercises but reveal key
components of one’s psyche. These findings may be as light
as determining what colour to use for a company logo, or they
may be deeper, unveiling gender and racial bias within sen-
sitive ethnographic studies. We do not aim to tell where to
apply such techniques, but we do seek to highlight the power
of these stimulating exercises.
Whilst we will not yet dive into research design, we
will introduce a series of projective approaches that we list
 Projective Techniques 25
further. As you read through the following chapter, we sug-
gest you consider your own potential research and how these
approaches will have been and/or would be of great benefit
within these contexts.
The approaches we present include:

Word Association Personification Sentence Completion

Story Completion Thematic Choice Ordering
Apperception Test
Collaging Brand & User Timescape
Imagery
Tradeoff Projective Drawing Family of Brands
Laddering Guided Imagery Talk Balloons
Role-Playing Guided Fantasies Brand Analogies
Survivor Island Billboards Dial Testing
Listing Grand Tour Repertory Grid
Technique Technique
Ranking Visual Props Mini-Tour Technique
Vignettes Drawing The Echo Approach
Cartoons Descriptive Diary

Let us now start to think of some projective approaches

in slightly more detail. Many of the projective approaches
we describe will be presented within a consumer psychol-
ogy or a market research context. This is because many of
the approaches have been developed for use in this arena.
However, the projectives we describe may all be readily used
within other areas of human subject research.

Projective Approaches

Text-Based Projectives
• Sentence Completion: As we have already seen in this
chapter, a sentence completion projective approach
requires respondents to finish a sentence in any manner
that they deem appropriate.
• Story Completion is a verbally based projective in
qualitative research. Story Completion takes sentence
26 Projective Techniques
completion a step further and asks participants to com-
plete a story. This approach requires participants to focus
on their feelings. This methodology is fairly simple and
comes with rudimentary instructions. The moderator asks
the respondents to tell a story about the product or brand,
event or object of interest. Respondents, when asked to
tell a story about a picture, product, brand, event and so
forth, will describe a detailed tale where they increas-
ingly reveal their own attitudes and feelings towards an
attitudinal object as the story unfolds. Unlike some other
projective techniques, story completion is undertaken
individually, with people usually completing the story on
a paper form. An example of this technique is, “When
I walk into Thrift City Stores, I get the feeling that ____.
I think that their stores are better/worse than their compe-
tition because ____. If a friend asked me tomorrow for a
recommendation, I’d tell them _____”. From this exam-
ple, it can be seen that story completion does not require
a participant to write the ending to a story but rather to
add words of phrases at strategically determined places
in a short storyline.
• Talk Balloons is quite an imaginative technique that
reveals strong insights. For this technique, participants
are supplied with cartoons. Talk balloons using cartoons
of people talking are ideal for concept testing and brand-
ing, and for other situations in which you are attempting
to find out someone’s reaction to being placed in a situa-
tion. Talk balloons leave just enough to the imagination.
Respondents fill in the blank, even fill in the speakers’
expressions in a cartoon. Talk Balloons are also com-
monly referred to as the Cartoon technique. Participants
are asked to react to a cartoon or complete an empty
speech bubble with a word, phrase or thought, which can
effectively lead to a discussion: A cartoon may be used to
begin a discussion on a difficult topic.
• Survivor Island is a technique for winnowing out a large
number of features or attributes from a participant. Ideas
 Projective Techniques 27
generated from participants are written on stickies and
placed on a picture or other representation of an island.
After the idea generation stage, ideas get voted off the
island or placed on the coastline. More specifically, the
ideas that the participant considers as “must haves” are
left on the island, whilst the “nice to haves” are located
on the beach. Any idea that is thought of as a “save it for
later” idea is placed in the ocean.
• The Billboard technique is most commonly used for
identifying the essence of a brand, product or some other
entity. For example, Billboards don’t have too many
words, since they are aimed at conveying a message and
gaining your attention whilst you are driving by, and they
therefore have to keep the message short. In this tech-
nique, the moderator prompts the participants to come up
with a billboard for a product or service using just three
words: a phrase, or three separate words.
• Descriptive Diary asks participants to jot down general
thoughts and recordings at times throughout their day or
week.
• Listing is a fairly simple technique used in qualitative
research that can provide beneficial returns. This tech-
nique asks participants to make a list of items, either
individually or as a group. This can be followed up
by ranking, comparing or discussing the items listed.
For example, ask participants to collectively “Make a
list of all the water sources in this village” or “List
the benefits and limitations of the health screening
program”.
• Ranking is quite similar to the Listing technique. How-
ever, participants are asked to rank items by given cri-
teria (e.g. cost, quality, effectiveness and convenience).
For example, a moderator may tell participants “Using
the items on the list, rank them from the highest to lowest
quality”. In this technique, participants may be provided
with a pre-prepared list of things to rank, or a list may be
generated by the group itself and then ranked.
28 Projective Techniques
Verbally Based Projectives
• Word association is a projective technique that requires
subjects to respond to the presentation of an object by
indicating the first word, image or thought elicited by the
stimulus. In less complex terms, the moderator will ask
participants what words come to mind when a stimulus
word or phrase is presented – for example, Coca-Cola:
beverage, thirst, fun, relaxation – respondents reveal val-
uable information regarding their attitudes and beliefs.
• The traditional definition of personification is the attri-
bution of a personal nature or human characteristics
to something non-human, or the representation of an
abstract quality in human form. However, in qualitative
research, it refers to respondents being given a number
of words and pictures and instructed to select those that
they associate with a brand or product or any other object
or event. The respondents are also asked to explain their
choices, providing reasons for their selections or attri-
butions. Personification is also known and commonly
referred to as anthropomorphism. An alternative defini-
tion of anthropomorphism or personification is linking
brands, products or things to characters of people or to
famous people. For example, a new kind of yoga mat, the
moderator asked participants what celebrity the yoga mat
would be. Additionally, if the moderator asked, “If the
UK Conservative party were a person, what kind of per-
son would they be? What would their hair be like? Their
clothing? What sort of activities would they engage in”.
• TAT is projective that can unlock powerful insights.
This method provides respondents with a set of T.AT
cards where each picture depicts an individual (or more
than one individual) in a fairly ambiguous environment
engaging in an indistinct behaviour. It is the respondent’s
task to develop and tell a story of what may be occur-
ring in the picture. This procedure is repeated for sev-
eral TAT card combinations. When TAT is used within a
clinical setting, based upon the sum of the explanations,
 Projective Techniques 29
the clinician is able to deduce the theme of the patient’s
stories. This motif provides insight into the psychologi-
cal conflicts, past and present, central to the patient, thus
making it a handy methodology for many researchers to
use in research or consumer settings.
• Timescape is an advantageous method in qualitative
research. This technique permits participants to explain
their view of the future. Often this involves setting
the stage with a scenario, such as “pretend you are on
a spaceship and you are gone for ten years. When you
return to Earth, what changes have you noticed in terms
of how people, do their work, communicate, travel, etc.?”
Participants’ responses are analysed to see how well the
present solutions satisfy potential future developments,
possibilities or requirements.
• The Family of Brands technique asks participants to
describe a brand as a family member in an extended
family or an animal in a zoo or an automobile. The set
of possible choices may be limited in order to allow the
achievement of consensus amongst several participants.
This procedure helps to understand values or feelings that
a person cannot readily express.
• Guided Imagery simply asks participants to imagine a
brand or some phenomenon through taking a journey in
a dream-like state. The details of this experience are then
evaluated to provide clues as to what participants feel
about the target of the imagery.
• Role-Playing is an interactive technique that can produce
strong insights. For instance, participants act out different
roles within a scenario, for example: clerk and customer,
friends chatting about new products or services, strangers
in front of a new store, and people discussing a news arti-
cle. The dialogue the individuals use in the role-playing
situation is then analysed and will then reveal hidden
emotions and values that may be hard to uncover through
direct questioning.
• Guided Fantasies is a technique quite similar to role-play-
ing in the way that it deals with a fictional scenario. The
30 Projective Techniques
moderator describes scenes using metaphors, from open-
ing doors to mansions symbolising brands to interplan-
etary travel to planets representing brands. “You land on
Planet Apple. What are the people doing? What do they
look like?” It’s a way to creatively personified brands.
This technique is ideal for branding research.
• Brand Analogies is quite simply prompting associations
of established brands across different categories. For
example, “If Bernie & Phyl’s [local furniture store] were
a car, what kind of car would it be?” This may be used
outside of the market research context by asking ques-
tions such as “If the Green Party was a car, what kind of
car would it be?”
• The Grand Tour technique asks participants to reconstruct
a significant segment of an experience or of an event. For
example, in interviewing a counsellor, an interviewer
might say, “Take me through a day in your work life”. Or
in working with a student teacher, an interviewer might
ask, “Reconstruct your day for me from the time you
wake up to the time you go to bed”.
• The Mini-Tour technique is nearly identical to the Grand
Tour technique. However, this methodology asks partici-
pants to reconstruct the details of a more limited time span
or of a particular experience. For example, an interviewer
might ask a vice-principal to reconstruct the details of a
particular disciplinary session with a student; or an inter-
viewer might ask a teacher to talk about the experience of
a particular conference with a parent.
• The Echo Approach is when the moderator marks down a
note while a participant is speaking that he/she/they want
to come back to later but do not want to interrupt the
participant’s thought process or their spontaneous elab-
orations associated with the current question. After the
participant has finished speaking, the interviewer might
ask to go back to the words they said and elaborate on
these a little more.
• Vignettes are short scenarios that are read aloud to the
participants and which are followed by a series of specific
 Projective Techniques 31
questions. For example, participants may be asked what
advice they would give to characters in the vignette,
whether the scenario is common in their communities,
and how these issues are typically dealt with.

Visually Based Projectives

• Collaging is a technique that allows a participant to cre-
ate a visual representation of their thoughts or feelings.
Participants move beyond the bounds of language in an
attempt to more accurately and completely communicate
a person’s opinions in pictures and words to form an
alternative definition as a visual representation of partici-
pant perceptions. For example, one can do collages that
are “pre-/post-”: how did you feel about the company
(or any other thing or concept) before . . . ? After . . . ?
Or two collages may be assembled, one for different
options, for example, one for brand A, one for brand B.
Traditionally, people would search through magazines
and cut and clip them, but now there are electronic col-
laging solutions, such as Karma Collage, which requires
respondents to perform the creation of their collage on a
tablet. Additionally, it is important to ask participants to
focus on the rationale they are employing in their crea-
tive process.
• Picture Sorts are similar to Collaging but involve sorting
through images and finding those that represent brands,
companies, products, situations and so forth. Visual
Explorer and IconiCards have card decks that the partici-
pant uses.
• Brand and User Imagery is a technique that is similar
to collaging. However, this technique permits a partici-
pant to evaluate the mental disconnections between their
perceptions of the brand (or activity) and perceptions of
users of the brand (or participants in the activity). For
instance, participants are asked to convey their percep-
tion of the brand/activity, and then later they are asked
to explain who might use the brand or participate in the
32 Projective Techniques
activity. Discrepancies can be further probed to provide
deeper insights.
• Projective Drawing is a technique that asks participants
to draw potential consumers for or of specific products,
services and so forth. Participants are also asked to pro-
vide basic demographic characteristics and attributes,
features, qualities and so forth of these potential consum-
ers. Drawings are then discussed to explore differences
and features in these perceptions.
• The Visual Props technique quite simply shows props to
the group to stimulate discussion. The materials that are
used include educational material (i.e. posters and vid-
eos), current events (i.e. newspaper article and media
clip), advertising material and products.
• The Drawing technique asks participants to make a draw-
ing on a specific topic given by the moderator. For exam-
ple, students may be asked to draw a tree and then in the
roots of the tree, write all the causes of stress for graduate
students.
• Mapping sounds like it might be similar to concept Map-
ping (see below), but in reality, the approaches are quite
different. In this case, when mapping is used, participants
are asked to sketch a map of their neighbourhood and
then mark certain items or places on the map as directed
by the moderator. For example, participants may be asked
to sketch a map of their neighbourhood and then mark
all the places that they believe are safe or dangerous,
hygienic or unhygienic, and so forth.

Mapping Techniques
• Mind Mapping is a powerful methodology in qualitative
research. This technique helps generate ideas and makes
clear the relationship of these ideas between and within
groups. Mind Mapping also derives concepts directly
from participants that can be used to communicate prod-
uct benefits to a broader market. Obviously, as we stated
at the start of our writing, whilst this technique has been
 Projective Techniques 33
very widely used in consumer settings, the approach is
also very often employed in other research domains that
are interested in human activity. When using mind map-
ping, the mapping exercise may be done at the individual
participant level or at the group level. It also facilitates
brainstorming and idea generation.
• Choice Ordering is a technique used to force participants
to evaluate their input by asking them to rank or order
certain factors or attributes associated with an event,
object, concept, brand, service and so forth. This exer-
cise is very commonly combined with mind mapping,
especially when the object of the mind map is to estab-
lish preferences or desires in association with the target
phenomenon.
• Concept Mapping is a technique that has the ability to
demonstrate how people visualise relationships between
various concepts. This is closely related to cognitive
mapping from within the discipline of environmental
psychology. Concept maps provide a visual representa-
tion of dynamic schemes of understanding within the
human mind, yet some debate exists about what is and
what is not a concept map.

Sort Methodologies
• The triadic sort is good to its name as it provides three
items to a respondent as either physical objects or things,
or as words or pictures on cards. The participant is then
asked about similarities and differences between the
three things and is asked how two of these are similar to
each other but different to a third. The procedure identi-
fies the underlying understanding that the person has of
the three items.
• Pile sorts is a technique similar to triadic sorts. However,
in this procedure, participants are asked to sort a range
of images, photographs, or words into different piles by
various criteria. Participants may be given the criteria by
which to sort the items by the moderator or be asked to
34 Projective Techniques
develop their own criteria of categories that distinguish
items. In the former approach, the approach identifies
how participants understand items in terms of criteria that
are being investigated and in the latter form of the proce-
dure, sort criteria themselves are being generated as well
as items being sorted into criteria.
• In the Q-Sort approach, a participant is presented with a
set of statements about some topic, and is asked to rank-
order them. The ranking is often in terms of how much
they “agree” to “disagree” with each statement, but the
ranking may be between any two poles such as positive to
negative, like to dislike, cheap to expensive and so forth.
Whatever the poles terms used the assessment is in terms
of the extent to which the participant understands the cri-
teria to apply to each of the statements.

Other Projective Approaches

• Laddering is a technique that is most commonly used in
in-depth interviews. When using this approach, partici-
pants are asked to define the attributes of a product, ser-
vice, thing, concept and so forth, and then describe the
rational benefits of that. Exploration is then undertaken
by the researcher to elucidate why those benefits are of
importance to the respondent. The chain that this pro-
cedure develops links the attributes held by products or
other things to psycho-social or emotional benefits that
are held by consumers and other respondents. The chain
can be an upward ladder to an emotional benefit, or can
be reversed as a downward ladder to find out the disad-
vantages of a competitive brand, and so forth, in terms of
its rational benefits.
• Dial Testing Using Perception Analysers is a technique
that permits real-time analysis of participant feelings
towards a given stimulus. The feelings are captured using
a numerical dial and may be segmented by age, income,
gender and so on. The stimulus may be played back dur-
ing a focus group with the numerical data displayed as
 Projective Techniques 35
graphs, and this data then becomes a source for further
probing on likes/dislikes and strengths/weaknesses of the
stimulus.
• The Trade Off technique gives participants’ shapes to fit
within a space on a piece of paper. Each shape represents a
particular product attribute. However, participants cannot
fit all shapes into the space; therefore, to complete their
box, participants must trade off certain attributes for oth-
ers. This prioritisation can then be evaluated at the group
level and probed for clarification. A variation of this is a
card sort where participants must sort attributes into cat-
egories such as must have, nice to have, not important,
for example. The card sort technique (is a variation of the
sort procedures already mentioned) entails providing a
group of users with a set of cards. Written on each card is
a concept or piece of information from the set that needs
to be organised. Users then sort the cards with similar
concepts into piles. The cards are scored and the data is
entered into a statistical analysis programme. A statistical
cluster analysis can be used to create a composite of all
or various groupings of users. The technique is based on
the assumption that if users group cards together, the con-
cepts probably possess a meaningful similarity to them
which will help in understanding their relationships to
whatever it is that is being investigated. For example, the
result suggests how users would organise a given set of
concepts, which can be very valuable information when
organising a system or Web site.
• Repertory Grid Technique is an approach researchers
use to understand the relationship between conscious or
subconscious constructs that lie behind each single act of
judgement that a person makes. The approach comes out
of Personal Construct Psychology developed by George
Kelly (1963, 1991a, 1991b) and see also Fransella and
Bannister (1986, 2003). Personal constructs are thought
to underlie how we understand events within our world
and the judgements that a person makes in their day-to-
day lives. The repertory grid technique has been designed
36 Projective Techniques
in order to explore a person’s personal constructs, the
structure, content and interrelationships of constructs. For
example, each of us has many such implicit theoretical
beliefs (or what may be called construct systems) about
all aspects of our lives, such as billiards, love affairs,
money, children or God.

Conclusion
We have finally reached the end of this chapter, and hope-
fully, we haven’t scrambled your brain with all the differ-
ent techniques and methodologies. In this chapter, we have
attempted to familiarise readers with a wide range of projec-
tive approaches. We reviewed text-based projectives, which
that employ writing or texts to elicit information from par-
ticipants; verbally based projectives, which involve the use of
spoken approaches in their gathering of data; visually based
projectives, which offer images of physical items as stimuli
to participants; mapping techniques, in which participants
make maps or arrange things or concepts spatial; sort method-
ologies, in which respondents are asked to sort items or con-
cepts into spatial arrangements to represent similarities and
differences between these stimuli; and some other projective
approaches.
In presenting this wide variety of techniques, the aim of this
chapter has been to provide the reader with an introduction
to projective techniques that exist within qualitative research.
These approaches are valuable to researchers as they help
facilitate the gathering of extremely useful information and
insights. One of the main, most useful and unusual character-
istics of all of the approaches we have provided details about
is that they all in some way attempt to break through con-
scious or subconscious barriers that a respondent may employ
in order to protect themselves in some way. Furthermore, the
respondents who take part in a project procedure may find it
both engaging and easy to participate as the design and nature
of projective techniques encourage creativity and expression
of attitudes, beliefs or emotions in a safe, no judgement zone.
 Projective Techniques 37
Hopefully, most participants should actually enjoy complet-
ing a projective exercise!
Having introduced you to the wide range of approaches we
will consider in this book, in the next chapter, we start to look
more closely at specific procedures and we commence with
projectives that employ some form of sorting in their methods.

Note
1 Throughout this text, it is the authors’ intention to use non-binary
gender terms. We hope that the reader will excuse any grammati-
cal obscurity or vagueness that may arise because of this practice.

References
Fransella, F., and Bannister, D. (1986). Inquiring Man: The Psychol-
ogy of Personal Constructs. London: Routledge Kegan & Paul.
Fransella, F., and Bannister, D. (2003). A Manual for Repertory Grid
Technique. London: Wiley Blackwell.
Kelly, G. (1963). A Theory of Personality: Psychology of Personal
Constructs. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Kelly, G. (1991a). The Psychology of Personal Constructs: Theory
and Personality Vol. 1. London: Routledge Publishers
Kelly, G. (1991b). The Psychology of Personal Constructs: Clini-
cal Diagnosis and Psychotherapy Vol. 2. London: Routledge
Publishers
3 Sort-Based Methods

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we exclusively discuss sort-based methods.
We review the broad reasons to utilise these techniques and
offer the reader an in-depth understanding of how to execute
these approaches. We review why one might employ an open
sort versus a closed sort, a single sort versus a repeated sort
and qualitative versus quantitative sorts. The approaches we
review in detail are pile sorts, picture sorts, triadic sorts, Q-sorts
and card sorts. We discuss the ways in which Q-methodology
supports and connects qualitative and quantitative research
and the benefit this multivariate approach has in one’s research.
This chapter will also address the vast array of disciplines sort-
based approaches may be used for and underline their diver-
sity and flexibility.

Introduction to Sort-Based Approaches

In the first two chapters, we attempted to familiarise readers
with the broad range of projective research approaches. In the
next few chapters, we consider the different types of projec-
tives in a little more detail. In this third chapter, we turn to
deal with approaches that fall under the heading of sort-based
methods. The name of the chapter prepares the reader for what
to expect from the sort-based procedures that we will con-
sider. That is to say that they all require the participants to sort

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-4
 Sort-Based Methods 39
some form of material, be this, actual objects, words, pictures
or some virtual material.
The reasoning behind the use of sort techniques is one of
two major types. In the first of these, the participant is sup-
plied with categories into which to sort the objects, words and
so on. On this understanding, the approach simply looks to see
under which categories items have been placed. In the second
form of sort approach, the participant supplies the categories
into which items are sorted and then places items under these
categories. The former of the two approaches is interested
to test out pre-existing categories amongst a specific set of
participants whilst the latter is more concerned with the gen-
eration of new understanding in terms of how items are dif-
ferentiated and understood by participants.
As with all projective techniques, sort-based procedures are
varied and flexibly adapted by the researcher to suit a specific
research situation. Indeed, throughout this book, we empha-
sise that projective techniques of all varieties are extremely
malleable and the researcher should tailor the technique to
provide the specific information they require to answer their
research questions. As there are very many ways of sorting
things into categories, the illustrations of these techniques that
we offer have been chosen by us to provide the reader with
an understanding of the various sub-forms of sort procedure
rather than constituting the approaches we prefer or advocate.
The approaches we will include in our review are as follows:
pile and card sort techniques; picture sorts; Q-sorts, and in
the following pages, we will address each of these specific
types of sort techniques. We also consider the choice that the
researcher has to conduct either a qualitative or quantitative
search procedure and analysis.

Characteristics of Sorting Techniques

As we have just mentioned, there are several different types of
sorting techniques that exist in qualitative research, some of
which yield numerical data (which is slightly unusual amongst
the projective approaches that we talk about in this book and
40 Sort-Based Methods
projectives in general) whilst others are qualitative in their
output. The overall defining characteristic of these approaches
is that the researcher asks the participant to allocate or sort
something into a series of exclusive or non-exclusive char-
acteristics, features or categories. Sorting approaches can
be distinguished by their openness, exclusiveness, the sort-
ing task and the character of categories (Fincher and Tenen-
berg, 2005; Harloff, 2005; Harloff and Coxon, 2007; Rugg
and McGeorge, 2005). For instance, a sorting technique that
is exclusive in nature, means an item, card or picture, can only
be sorted into one category or pile. We talk more about all of
the characteristics of sorting procedures in the next section. It
is important to understand the various types of sorting tech-
niques that exist and from which the researcher may choose as
if the appropriate approach is chosen, they can yield powerful
insights into and from the participants. It is also important to
note right from the start of this chapter that, as well as pro-
viding information in regard to the sorting a participant does,
the approaches also allow the researcher to discuss a partici-
pant’s performance, ask them to elaborate on their sort and to
provide much rich and meaningful information. Additionally,
sorting techniques may be employed with individuals or in
small group settings, as stand-alone procedures or with other
approaches, perhaps in the setting of a focus group. Further-
more, sort approaches may be used to produce in-depth insight
into why a person categorises the content they have sorted in
the way they have or to offer numerical indicators as to the
strength of the similarities and differences of perceptions that
participants have regarding their sorting preferences.
In what follows, we elaborate on some of the broad charac-
teristics of sorting techniques before we go on to consider the
different tests themselves.

Opening Phases in Sort Procedures

The first characteristic that is common across sort-based pro-
cedures is the fact that sorting approaches rest heavily on
researchers taking time to clearly establish exactly what the
 Sort-Based Methods 41
specific question is that is being asked in the research and how
the research may be designed to produce the answers. At this
point, the reader will rightly say that being clear about the
questions a project is attempting to answer is required in all
good research designs. However, there are multiple reasons
why this is particularly true with all forms of projective tests
and arguably exceptionally relevant with sort procedures. The
first reason for this pertinence is that as projective techniques
are very often designed specifically for the situation in which
they are used, there is not an already developed test that a
researcher may use. Furthermore, due to its subjective nature,
the researcher must take steps to ensure that the procedure
they use clearly addresses the questions being asked in the
overall study’s aims. In sort procedures, it is frequently the
case that the instructions given to participants are somewhat
rudimentary as it is the aim of the researcher to facilitate free
expression from those taking part. It is also the case that as
there are no direct questions given for a participant to answer,
but rather they are presented with cards with words or images
printed on them, or physical objects and then asked to arrange
these, great care must be taken at the stage of choosing words,
images or objects.

Open Versus Closed Sorting

Let’s begin with open sorts. In open sorting procedures (Chol-
let et al., 2014), respondents are instructed to group items
or pictures into categories of their choice. In this case, the
researcher does not determine the sorting criteria, the number
of categories or the labels given to the categories. The reason
behind this is to encourage participants to think freely and
create their own categorisation structure. Following the com-
pletion of the sorting task, participants are asked to elaborate
on the categories and names they developed for the catego-
ries. This approach is beneficial in identifying and analysing
the patterns of categorising and the way in which informa-
tion is organised by the participant. It can also be useful for
researchers when comparing whether participants use the
42 Sort-Based Methods
same or different categories for sorting the items. Open sort-
ing is frequently used in a collaborative setting, where par-
ticipants are able to debate and talk over the approach and the
categories everyone within the setting developed. In adopting
such an open approach, it is hoped that this will result in the
participants coming to an agreement on the categories they
developed and the meaning behind them.
Now that open sorts have briefly mentioned, it is impor-
tant that the counterpart, closed sorts, are discussed. In
closed sorts, the researcher supplies participants with a pre-
defined set and number of categories, along with labels or
names for them. Participants then sort the items or visually
based materials into categories. In some cases, respondents
are asked to rank items presented to them, but it is important
to note that ranking items in sort approaches is a within-item
relational process. This means that items are not assessed
individually, but ranked in relation to other items in the spe-
cific procedure. For example, college students were asked
to rank a series of pictures of golden retriever dogs. They
were instructed by the researcher to rank from left (most)
to right (least) based on how appealing the visual images of
the dogs were to them. The results that this type of proce-
dure produces will not reveal how appealing each individual
photograph of a dog is to the participant, rather it will show
how appealing they are in relation to the other photographs
of the dogs.

Single Sorts Versus Repeated Sorts

Single sorts, as their name implies, are quite simple to explain
and understand. In single sort procedures, the participants only
perform the sorting technique once. Conversely, we are certain
that you can guess that the definition of a repeated sorting is a
sorting that is performed several times. In repeated sorts, par-
ticipants are required to repeat the sorting task either directly
after the first sort or after some time has passed. The benefit
of repeated sorts is that it provides the opportunity to replicate
 Sort-Based Methods 43
the approach in order to provide information to help under-
stand the consistency or inconsistency in how people sort
items. In repeated sorts, another variation is that respondents
aren’t always asked to re-sort under the same criteria. It can
be instrumental to sort the same items into a new group or pile
under a different sort criteria. The repeated sort can then be
used to cross examine the results from the first sorting in order
to provide a different view or perspective on the categorisation
of the items.

Qualitative Sorts Versus Quantitative Sorts

When a researcher decides that a sort-based procedure is a
good fit for their research question and topic, they have the
option of choosing a sort-based procedure that yields either
qualitative or quantitative information. In both of these classes
of sort-based projective techniques, the procedures are similar
but have essential differences in their aims and procedures. At
this point of the chapter, we will not go into details in regard
to the ways in which different sort approaches that are either
qualitative or quantitative are conducted as this will be cov-
ered in the latter section of the chapter. However, before we
go into such detail, it will be useful for readers if we describe
the main differences between conducting a qualitatively and a
quantitatively analysed sort procedure.
An example of what may happen when conducting a quali-
tative sort is as follows. In this procedure, participants may be
requested to sort objects, cards with words of pictures printed
on them, into spatial arrangements that represent how they
understand the things they are arranging are associated to
each other. This procedure is conducted on a flat horizontal
or vertical surface. The arrangement is believed to reflect how
participants understand the content of the area that is being
investigated is structured. The sort may then be photographed
or recorded in some other way and the groupings and arrange-
ments of items in relation to each other is noted. The respond-
ent then discusses the arrangement they have produced with
44 Sort-Based Methods
the researcher. This procedure reveals the conscious and
perhaps some subconscious attitudes and beliefs held by the
participant.
When conducting a quantitative sort, the procedure is simi-
lar to the qualitative sort method noted earlier. However, in
quantitative approaches, the material that is sorted by par-
ticipants is numerically coded in some way. By attributing a
number to a sort item, the researcher is then able to calculate
descriptive statistics for groups of respondents. This includes
statistics such as means, modes, ranges and variance statis-
tics. By doing this, the researcher can make comments about
how typical an individual’s response is in comparison to other
individuals or to groups of people. If inferential statistics are
employed, comparisons can also be made between groups of
respondents and the statistical significance of the differences
and similarities between respondent groups may be assessed.
More sophisticated multi-dimensional statistical procedures
(Kruskal and Wish, 1978) may also be used that enable the
internal structure of response to be investigated in terms of
their psychological nature (e.g. see: Borg et al., 2018; Borg
and Groenen, 2005).
Earlier we have provided a brief background to sort meth-
odologies and the general sub-types of techniques that occur
within this form of approach. We now turn and discuss
selected individual sort approaches themselves.

Details of Selected Sort Techniques

In this section, we will provide details of the following sort
techniques: pile and card sorts; picture sorts; triadic sorts;
and Q-sorts. Our selection of approaches is not meant to be
comprehensive but rather to illustrate the breadth of different
sort approaches from which the researcher may select when
designing a research project. It should also be noted that sort
techniques are all quite similar in their designs but the varia-
tions allow for different types of information to be collected in
order to better address specific research questions.
 Sort-Based Methods 45
Card Sorts
Card sort techniques include the sub-categories of sort tests
known as pile sorts or other sorts into other spatial configura-
tions. They also include triadic sorts, picture sorts and Q-sorts,
which we will talk about in later sections. Card sorts entail
providing a group of users with a set of cards. Written on each
card is a concept or piece of information and together all of
the cards form a set that contains a coherent body of informa-
tion in regard to the research being conducted and the overall
research questions being asked. It is the task of participants to
organise the set of cards they are given. As we described in
an earlier section, the sorts may be open or closed. Users are
given the set of cards and asked to sort the cards in terms of
how the cards fall into specific categories that are either pro-
vided to the participant or provided by the researcher. If card
sorts are used qualitatively the groupings of cards are noted
for each respondent and each participant’s reasons for sorting
items as they have done is discussed them. If the procedure is
used quantitatively, the cards are scored or numerically coded
in some way and the data is entered into a statistical analysis
programme. Several different statistical packages are avail-
able and may be used to reveal the statistical similarities pre-
sent in the data that arises from a sort procedure. For example,
a statistical cluster analysis can be used to create a compos-
ite analysis of how the group of respondents positioned all
test card items. The output from such an analysis takes the
form of a print out that positions the concepts on each of the
cards so that a concept is positioned near to other concepts
that were rated the same but more distant from the concepts
that were rated differently. Highly correlated concepts thus
form clusters. The technique is based on the assumption that
if users group cards together, the concepts possess some form
of similarity. The result suggests how users organise a given
set of concepts, which can be very valuable information when
organising a system or website. An example of a card sort is
shown in Figure 3.1.
46 Sort-Based Methods

Figure 3.1 Illustration of Card Sort

Example:
Participants are instructed to sort nine cards with images on
them into the researcher supplied categories of Very Positive (5),
Slightly Positive (4), Neutral (3), Slightly Negative (2) and
Very Negative (1). Once a participant has completed this sort-
ing task, the researcher enters the numerical scores (one of
the numbers from 5 to 1 given above in parentheses) and uses
a statistical programme to analyse this data. This procedure
allows for composite analyses of the area that is being investi-
gated and to understand participants’ perceptions of the simi-
larities and differences among the images.
Pile sort (Trotter and Potter, 1993) is a specific technique
which falls under the umbrella of card sorts in which par-
ticipants are asked to sort a range of images, photographs, or
words printed on cards, into different piles by various sorting
criteria. During this procedure, participants may be supplied
with the criteria for sorting items by the moderator or they may
 Sort-Based Methods 47
be asked to develop their own criteria of categories that distin-
guish items. The analysis of pile sort methods may combine
qualitative and quantitative techniques in their analyses. Pile
sorts begin with attributes being developed by the person con-
ducting the research project, and attributes are then listed on a
set of cards, pictorial items are developed or physical objects
are selected for the sort. Next, participants are instructed by the
moderator to carefully read through all the cards and then make
their best judgement to place each card or item into a “pile” or
group that they believe best describes the card’s content.
In most research studies where pile sorting is used, the
cards that a participant perceives to be the most similar are
sorted first. Then, the cards with less similarity are sorted to
conclude the technique. This process allows participants to
sort through a large pile of cards until there are two or more
clusters of cards. Alternatively, the methodology can be con-
ducted in the opposite direction. For instance, all the cards are
separated into individual piles and the participant then sorts
them into one pile. Once the sorting by participants is com-
pleted, the researcher(s) calculates the “distance” between
each of the piles of cards by measuring in centimetres the
actual distances. The results are then translated into a distance
or proximity matrix. The matrix is then statistically analysed
using some form of cluster analysis (a form of multi-dimen-
sional statistical analysis) with the goal of investigating and
revealing the hierarchical structure (hierarchical analysis, see
Garson, 2014), or other forms of clustering relationships to
help researchers develop a “map” that will demonstrate why
and how participants sorted the cards into piles. In this way,
the researcher is able to assess and understand how the par-
ticipants think and feel about the area they are investigating.
It may be useful to provide an example of this approach.
For example, a retailer is interested in understanding how
their customers perceive their products and also in identifying
areas in which customers believe there to be a gap in the prod-
ucts they sell. In this situation, a sample of customers could
individually be given either sample of the products available
in the shop or cards with pictures or names of the products
48 Sort-Based Methods
printed upon these. The participants would then be asked to
sort items into piles and to arrange the piles so that the posi-
tion of the piles reflected the relationship that a pile had to
other piles (this is a simple qualitative version of this proce-
dure). Participants are then asked to name the piles they have
formed and to comment upon their content items and how
they are similar to other items in the pile. In this way, there
may develop gaps in the arrangement where none of the prod-
ucts sold in the shop fit. Such a procedure would then help the
company to understand how customers perceive their retail
offerings and also to identify target areas (the physical gaps
in the spatial arrangements) that they need to source and offer
in order to provide shoppers with a more complete choice of
products.

Picture Sorts
It will be immediately apparent to readers that we have
already spoken several times about sorting pictures. How-
ever, it may be helpful if we consider these in a little more
detail. When a researcher uses a Picture Sort, their main
goal is to identify how individuals organise and arrange
visual items. Instead of cards with written phrases, words
or statements; pictures are used for sorting. The results of
the sorting provide the researcher with a form of visual
data. The visual data and the observed sorting patterns are
then examined and deciphered by the researchers in order
to uncover the reason behind the categorisations into which
items have been allocated. There is obviously a lot of inter-
pretation that is going on, both by the participants and by the
researcher. This level of subjectivity may be seen as being
both a strength of the procedure and a weakness. It is a good
technique to use with participants who do not find it easy
to communicate using written language. Perhaps because of
the high level of subjectivity involved in interpreting pic-
ture sorting exercises, this is not a commonly used research
technique in visual and qualitative research. This may be
seen as surprising, especially since studies involving sort
 Sort-Based Methods 49
methodology are excellent for revealing the latent categori-
sation of visual items.
In qualitative research studies using picture sorts, a set of
pictures or cards containing pictures is presented to the par-
ticipant. Depending on the preference of the researcher, and
the specific questions in the research project, these images can
be either printed out or digitally displayed for the informants.
Then the researcher instructs the participants’ to group the
pictures based on the parameters of the study.
Image-based sort methodologies can be an extremely useful
incredible tool for researchers to have in their back pocket as
these are able to transcend the limitations and restrictions of a
verbally based method (Buckingham, 2009, p. 633) and pre-
sent respondents with the opportunity to convey and demon-
strate their thoughts, feelings and perspective in a non-verbal
manner. In addition, sorting techniques are exceptionally use-
ful and beneficial regarding time and resources. For example,
sorting techniques are usually completed quickly with very lit-
tle cognitive effort (Stephen, 1985; ten Klooster et al., 2008).
One could argue that the lack of including verbalisation in a
technique can be advantageous in qualitative research because
studies frequently require participants to elaborate on topics
that may be particularly challenging for participants to ver-
balise (Lobinger, 2016; Lobinger and Brantner, 2015, 2016).

Tridiac Sort
As mentioned earlier, triadic sorting is a useful technique
that grew out of personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955,
1963,1991a, 1991b) and which has become more widely used
in qualitative research as it helps identify distinctions that pro-
vide the structure and formation of how individuals categorise
information. Often, there is a fine distinction between how we
understand the objects, events, states of affairs, and so on that
make up an area of research interest and researchers attempt
to not impose how they understand the area or subject matter
they are conducting research upon. In triadic sorts, respond-
ents are presented with examples of significant aspects of a
50 Sort-Based Methods
research area and asked to divide up this content in way that is
meaningful to them: triadic sorting is an approach that helps
uncover these distinctions.
When starting to conduct a triadic sort, the researcher
develops a series of printed cards with words or phrases on
them. Together, the cards cover all of the major aspects or
concepts associated with the research area. Participants are
then presented with three cards that have been selected from
the card set and they are asked how two of the cards are simi-
lar to each other but different from the third? This is noted
and also the respondent is asked how they are different and
similar and this too is noted. This procedure is repeated with
different permutations and combinations of three cards from
the set until the reasons that participants give for their choices
become repetitive. This stage is called saturation.
In an example of a triadic sort, fifteen cards may be pro-
duced that have the names of different models of cars writ-
ten on them. Participants would then be randomly presented
with three of these cards and asked to speak about the three
stimuli cards and to say how two of the cars were similar to
each other yet different from the third car. The participants
might respond with, “Two of the cars are red and the thirds
is blue”. The procedure is then repeated with three different
cards and the response may be, “I used to own those two but
I have never had one of those”, the procedure is repeated sev-
eral more times until the comments become repetitious. The
elicited responses that participants give through the triadic
sorting technique can yield powerful insights onto how indi-
viduals think, feel, how they have interacted and so on, with
cars, and any other thing, concept, event and so on, and as in
the car example, the insights produced may include many dif-
ferent perspectives and forms of evaluation.

Q-Sort
Q-Methodology (McKeown et al., 1988, 2013) (commonly
referred to as Q-Sort) was developed by William Stephenson
in the 1930s (Stephenson, 1935; Stephenson, 1953). He had
 Sort-Based Methods 51
doctorates in both physics and psychology (Brown et al., 2008,
p. 722) and his background may be seen in his systematic way
of conducting research through the approach he developed.
Stephenson wrote a letter to Nature, in which he proposed
the application of factor analysis (a firm of multi-dimensional
statistics) in which the factoring was of individuals rather than
their traits. Following his synopsis of the traditional use of
factor analysis, Stephenson put forward the idea that it is the
people who are being assessed who are themselves involved
in a form of assessment of the testing situation. For instance,
if a group is given a series of tests of various kinds the indi-
viduals being assessed subjectively understand the tests they
are given. What is meant by this is that when giving tests
to respondents, the tests comprise the content that has been
designed into the test, plus the subjective understanding each
participant has of the test and the tests yield large amounts of
subjective interpretation. From these methodological claims,
the notion was advanced that individuals assign meaning to
stimuli they are presented with. Moreover, if the stimuli pre-
sented are intentionally ambiguous, the meaning that respond-
ents impose will come to the fore and researchers will be able
to gain entry into the participants’ thoughts and feelings, con-
scious and perhaps also subconscious, on any topic.
Stephenson’s letter to Nature and the publications that fol-
lowed brought about a new, comprehensive and innovative
methodology that is extremely versatile. Q-Methodology
is now used in several disciplines, including but not lim-
ited to, psychology, sociology, policy sciences, discourse
analysis, political science and aesthetics. Since its develop-
ment, Q-Methodology and Q-based studies have been sig-
nificantly expanded. Below, we will discuss the purpose of
Q-Methodology, its techniques and the benefits of studying
human behaviour. We will also dive into the methodological
considerations and the technical and procedural aspects of
using Q-Methodologies in a research setting.
Q-Methodology is the process of studying participants’
viewpoints. One of the most commonly used techniques
used in Q-methodology is the card sort. The primary purpose
52 Sort-Based Methods
of Q-methodology is to investigate respondents’ perspec-
tives and behaviours using quantitative psychometric and
operational principles in tandem with statistical procedures
of correlation and factor analysis statistics. This provides
researchers with the tools to conduct a quantitative procedure
to yield results that may be able to offer some understanding
of participants “subjectivity” or personal point of view on any
specified topic. Q-based projects typically consist of a small
number of participants, and in-depth interviews of single top-
ics or cases are not out of the ordinary. Due to its often small
scale, Q-methods make it possible to conduct studies when
funds and resources are limited. Only a basic understand-
ing of Q-methodology and statistical principles is needed to
design a Sort study. Education on factor analysis is strongly
recommended but not required to know before conducting a
Q-based study or attempting to understand a study done by
someone else. The fundamental approach used in a Q-Sort
approach study involves a participant being presented with a
set of statements about some topic, and is asked to rank-order
them (usually from “agree” to “disagree”).
In the paragraphs that follow, we will take you through a
step-by-step process for creating a precise, detailed and crea-
tive Q-sort approach.

Step 1: Defining and Building Your Concourse

The “concourse” is defined as a set of all of the things that
are thought or said about the topic, item, theme and so on
that is being investigated. This stage therefore involves gath-
ering the existing opinions, beliefs, arguments and experts’
thoughts on the topic of research interest. The material that is
collected at this stage is considered to be the raw material for
the Q-sort approach. Essentially, it is necessary to gather the
subjectivity of what people are saying and what they under-
stand about the topic. This is an extremely important phase in
a Q study, as it is in all sort-based studies as the items that are
gathered at this stage in effect set the parameters to the study
that follows.
 Sort-Based Methods 53
Step 2: Development of the Q Set
A Q set is “a purposive selection of statements” (Brown et al.,
2008, p. 2) drawn from the concourse that will be presented
to the participants. This is commonly referred to as the Q-sort
or Q sample. The assembled set often consists of forty state-
ments, but it is possible to conduct the technique using more
or less statements than forty. In order to make the study more
productive, it is important for the researcher or the person
conducting the study to carefully consider and choose the
statements so as to cut out any repetitiveness present between
statements. The statements then undergo final revisions and
are randomly assigned a number. The statements and its cor-
responding number are then both printed out, and this forms
the Q-deck, which will be used by the researcher when they
carry out the procedure.

Step 3: Selection of the P Set

The third step in the process is the selection of the P set. This
step is possibly the easiest of the entire process. Essentially,
all one needs to do is select a number of individuals willing to
participate in the study. All that is required is to have enough
participants to determine the existence of a factor in order to
compare that to other factors. Please keep in mind that the
P set is typically smaller than the Q set. For instance, if you
have six participants trying to establish a factor, it is common
to have them defining two to five viewpoints. That is not to
say that it isn’t possible to do more, it is just that it is rarely
the case when conducting a Q sort to have a P set that is larger
than the Q set.

Step 4: Q Sorting
We now move on to Step 4 in the process, Q sorting. At this
stage, the Q set of numbered cards, this is the Q deck discussed
earlier in step two, is presented to the participant in a pseudo-
random order. After they have been presented with the card
54 Sort-Based Methods

Figure 3.2 Q-Sort Test Sheet

deck, they are asked to rank the statements according to some

rule. This is known as the condition of instruction, which is
typically the respondent’s perspective or point of view on a
certain topic or issue. Participants are usually provided with
a score sheet and a suggested distribution for the Q sorting
assignment. The score sheet is a continuum ranging from one
pole of a particular construct to another pole of the construct.
For instance, “highly agree” on one end and “highly disagree”
on the opposite end (e.g. see Figure 3.2).

Conclusion
Sort-based approaches serve a large number of purposes for
a broad array of disciplines as they may be used to gather
many types of information that can provide insight into par-
ticipants’ conscious and subconscious motives. Due to their
use of ordered arrangements, sort methodologies are able
to bridge the quantitative and qualitative divide by yield-
ing data that can be analysed through diverse and flexible
approaches. This chapter aimed to equip readers with a gen-
eral understanding of how these sort-based approaches func-
tion and just as importantly why they might be advantageous
additions in their research work. Despite Q-methodology’s
long history and ability to be used in various scenarios and
 Sort-Based Methods 55
disciplines, it is sometimes overlooked and relatively unused.
In this chapter, we discussed the characteristics of sort-
approaches, open versus closed sorts, single versus repeated
sorts, qualitative versus quantitative and several different
types of sorting techniques. Our hope is that our writing pro-
vides the reader with an insight into the value, benefits and
strengths of using sort-based approaches in research studies.

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4 Mapping Approaches

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we turn our attention to projective approaches
to research that employ some form of map or mapping tech-
nique in their procedure, or which involve the use and creation
of maps of concepts or ideas, that are pertinent to participants.
We will present these projective approaches under three major
categories: Mapping, Mind Mapping and Concept Mapping.
This chapter also addresses ways to plan research utilising a
mapping approach and how to collect, analyse and present
the related data. We also aim to point out both the pros and
cons mapping approaches have so that you are able to make
an educated decision on how to include these approaches into
your work.

Introduction
In his book, Representing Place: Landscape Painting and
Maps (Casey, 2002) Edward S. Casey describes the term
“placescape” to mean a representation of an area (land or sea)
that embodies both the place and the feelings that a person,
or people, have of that location. This is an apt term within
the context of this chapter’s content: mapping approaches. In
these techniques, maps are used as placescapes of localities
and also of other events and phenomena, both physical and
mental.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-5
58 Mapping Approaches
Maps are graphical or diagrammatic representations of
places, events or phenomena that exist as representations
of the real or imaginary world. Maps are things with which
we all have familiarity, be it with printed road and street
maps, atlases, or with Google or other maps that we regu-
larly employ on our mobile devices. Maps portray larger
phenomena in terms of their useful smaller features. That is
to say, a map, say of a city, will portray this larger area (the
given city) in terms of its smaller features (roads, railway
tracks, rivers, buildings and other features that are present
within the city). These smaller sub-components of the city
are useful to the reader of the map in that they assist them
in understanding or navigating the city or other region being
mapped. Maps represent features that we can perceive and
to which we may develop cognitive or affective attachment.
Thus, a map is a presentation of data or information in a
graphical form that shows the spatial arrangement or distri-
bution of sub-features of a place or other phenomena across
the area being mapped. The common features that all maps
possess are that they are representations of something other
than themselves and that the information that they provide
to the person who is viewing the maps will help them to
better appreciate and orient themselves in relation to the
phenomena or event that is being mapped (see MacEachren,
2004, for details about the ways in which maps operate
psychologically).
Within social research a researcher is often interested in
understanding the specific form of map that a person creates in
their mind and carries around with them, consciously or sub-
consciously, to many situations. The social science researcher
may also interested how such psychological maps are created
and their interest may extend from mental representations of
physical locations to how such abstract and non-tangible phe-
nomena, such as the items on a menu, may be represented in
a map that reflects the relationships that a person believes to
exist between these food items.
The term that is used to describe these forms of psycho-
logical construction procedures is mapping. This is a verb
 Mapping Approaches 59
and indicates that the person is actively involved in the pro-
cess of creating a map of something rather than responding
to an already-extant diagram of a phenomenon or an event.
Thus, the participant who is completing a mapping proce-
dure is usually required to record, in an appropriate degree
of detail, the spatial distribution of the event, concept, phe-
nomena and so on, with which the research is concerned. It
should also be noted at this point that if a researcher is con-
cerned with the design of a physical location, for example a
shopping mall, then the map the participant will be asked to
produce will indeed be something that approaches what we
understand as a location map. However, if the subject mat-
ter of the research does not concern itself with a physical
location, then the map produced will not be of this familiar
form. For example, if a person was asked to produce a map
that represented the relationship between a selection of con-
fectionary goods, the spatial arrangement that they produced
would reflect their attitudes and opinions about the different
items rather than any physical “real world” distribution of
the items.
As the maps that a respondent produces are personal mental
phenomena, they are called cognitive maps (Downs and Stea,
2018). These forms of maps are visual depictions of how a
process or concept is understood to exist and presented as a
visual metaphor of the relationship between parts of the phe-
nomena of interest in the specific research project. Cognitive
maps do not have rules that govern the relationship of items
within the map in the way physical maps have to reflect actual
physical or geographical spatial relationships. Instead, the
relationships represented in a cognitive map are determined
by the respondent. The notion of the cognitive map has been
enlarged to encompass map-like mental representations by
authors such as Tony Buzan (2018).
Having introduced the notions of mental maps and mental
mapping as, respectively, representations and the processes of
deriving such representations, we will now turn to some spe-
cific forms of mapping techniques that are used in social and
psychological research.
60 Mapping Approaches
Mind Maps
Mind maps are well suited for qualitative research studies due
to their versatility. For instance, mind maps can be used to
plan a project, collect and analyse data, and present findings.
If we consider for a moment that different people learn and
compartmentalise knowledge differently. Furthermore, people
think and comprehend words, graphics and images in differ-
ent ways. For qualitative researchers, using focus groups and
in-depth interviews as the sole technique for collecting data
may be relying on psycho-linguistic assumptions about the
role of syntax, semantics, and context to guide their construc-
tion of meaning (Cassirer, 1946). Authors have put forward
the idea that people live two lives, one in their head and the
other as part of a social construct (Habermas, 1976). What is
meant by this is that consciousness is something that people
experience both internally and through their interactions with
others (Husserl, 1970). Mind maps provide a potentially less
cognitively controlled way for research respondents to convey
and portray their experiences, their understanding of events,
their likes and dislikes, their pleasures and their difficulties,
and so forth. When participants create a mental map, this may
be a pleasurable and non-arduous experience that may help to
avoid guardedness by participants and the expectations and
assumptions built into language and questioning (Korzybski,
1933). Mind maps provide a unique strategy to break away
from the conventional limitations of presenting experiences
(Hathaway and Atkinson, 2003). It should be remembered
that in most mental map procedures, the researcher is able to
supply many of the stimulus terms that are the basis of the
map, or elicit these from participants. In the former case, the
maps produced will be consistent, address a constant theme
and be comparable. In the latter instance in which all terms
in the map are elicited from the participant, the results will be
more idiosyncratic and it is unlikely the maps made by differ-
ent respondents can be directly compared and contrasted with
each other. It is likely that you will be better able to under-
stand this statement after reading the rest of this chapter.
 Mapping Approaches 61
Mind and mental maps can be of use to researchers in many
different ways and help them in both the planning and execu-
tion of a research project. In the following pages, we consider
some of these potential uses.

Planning Research
Mind maps can be helpful when planning a qualitative
research project. By first outlining the entirety of the research
project, researchers are likely to benefit from being able to
see the various steps, tasks and activities laid out as a map
in front of them. For example, a researcher’s project outline
may consist of a list of participants, data collection design,
conducting projective techniques and other data collection
methodologies, analysing data, and writing up and organising
data to be presented. Thus, making maps an effective tool for
planning research projects.

Collecting Data
Whilst project management and planning is an extremely use-
ful way in which to employ a mapping procedure, the main use
for mind maps is collecting data from participants. In the next
section of the chapter, we will take you through an illustrative
example of how to develop your own mind map. By doing
this, it is hoped that those new to the procedure will quickly be
able to grasp and appreciate the fundamental approach behind
mapping procedures.
To make your own, first take a pen or pencil and a blank
piece of paper, as large as you have, and turn the sheet hori-
zontally. To commence, think of a topic that you find interest-
ing. For example, think of a news headline, a sports story,
some local or personal issue or your favourite food. In the
centre of the page, draw a circle that is about 5 cm in diameter
and then write the topic (a word or phrase) you have chosen
in the middle of the circle (if you wanted to take extra time
and effort, you could use an image instead of a phrase, either
a photograph or a sketch you have produced yourself). As
62 Mapping Approaches
an example, let us say that the topic you decided upon was
cricket. Now, draw a line out from the edge of the circle that
is about 10 cm long and ask yourself, “when I think about this
topic, what is the first thing that comes into my mind?” Write
this word, phrase or add another image at the end of the line
you have drawn. In the example of cricket, I may have come
up with the phrase “different forms of the game”. Repeat this
step from three to five times. In terms of cricket, you may, for
example, as well as “different forms of the game”, have iden-
tified the sub-aspects of the media through which you watch a
game, the women’s game, facilities at the grounds and social
aspects.
At this stage, you have constructed the skeleton of a mind
map that looks rather similar to the sun, with a centre cir-
cle with radiating ray-like lines emanating from this. As we
turned our sheet of paper to be in a landscape orientation, it
is a good idea to write more on either side of the centre circle
and less above and below this. Now, go back to your first sub-
phrase and ask yourself, “when I think of this word or phrase
in the context of the concept written at the centre of the map,
what do I think of?” In our example of cricket, the first sub-
phrase was “different forms of the game” and when thinking
about these, you may have come up with: test cricket, T20,
village green, four-day match, the Hundred, one-day interna-
tional (ODI). Write each of these words or phrases around the
sub-phrase “different forms of the game”. Having completed
this, repeat this with the other words or phrases you wrote
around the central topic.
What you have done is to create a mind map. You can finish
a mind map after the first ideas have been written around the
centrally positioned concept, or you can undertake a second
round of differentiation, as shown in our example of cricket.
If you have a large sheet of paper, or if you perform the con-
struction activity on a white- or black-board, then you may
wish to perform further rounds of differentiation of the divi-
sions that are generated. Two examples of mind maps are pro-
vided in Figures 4.1 and 4.2.
 Mapping Approaches 63

Figure 4.1 Example of Mind Map #1

Figure 4.2 Example of Mind Map #2

When using this approach in a research context, at whatever

stage the researcher decides to finish the creation of the mind
map, the participant should be asked to elaborate on the words
and phrases they supplied. For instance, with our example of
cricket, the participant may be asked, “can you tell me more
about what test cricket (for example) means to you”.
Participants should be encouraged to be as creative and
unique as possible when they are constructing their map and
64 Mapping Approaches
to think about the words or phrases from different angles.
By doing this, the researcher avoids participants by simply
producing a description that contains little personal meaning:
the discovery of what a topic means to the person being the
aim of the approach. It is also possible to make the main map
more intricate by, for example, using thicker lines to show a
stronger connection to the main image or word compared to a
thinner line. In addition, you may consider using various col-
ours to help organise the map and to express the importance of
different words and phrases. You may also draw linking lines
across the map if cross-linkages become apparent between
words and phrases in different word clusters and ask the par-
ticipant if they can label what this connection means to them.
Having gone through the process involved in creating a
mind map, we will now turn our attention to how the informa-
tion that comes out of such a procedure may be analysed.

Analysing Data
Once a mind map has been completed, the information pre-
sent within this must be analysed and interpreted within the
context of the study. Analysing mind maps is different com-
pared to analysing interview transcripts or other forms of
data collection. As with all qualitative research approaches,
mind maps yield information that requires a considerable
degree of interpretation on the part of the researcher adminis-
tering the procedure. When it comes to analysing mind maps,
researchers read and analyse the completed maps. As noted
earlier, the maps produced also offer the opportunity for the
researcher to ask more and probe the person completing to
provide more information about their maps and the probe for
greater meaning. The use of maps may draw out information
from the participant that they may be unwilling or unable to
verbally articulate in other approaches. The mind map is, by
its nature, a procedure that allows the flexibility to respond-
ents to form new branches and to develop new connections
and relationships between concepts (Tattersall et al., 2007).
When analysing a mind map, the researcher is able to fully
 Mapping Approaches 65
immerse themselves into the data of the mind map so that
they can identify key concepts, themes and patterns. The pro-
cess that a researcher engages in when analysing a mental
or mind map is similar to the constant comparison method
(Glaser, 1965) that is widely used in other forms of qualita-
tive data analysis.

Other Types of Mind Maps

In this chapter, we have presented one type of mind map,
but there are many other forms and you may also be able to
creatively design your own form of mapping procedure. The
example of a mind map that we have used is sometimes called
a spider map or web, as it is similar in design to a spider’s
web. However, other designs exist and may be employed. An
example of one other format is a concept map known as a
semantic map.

Semantic Maps
The use of a semantic map is another way in which a researcher
may attempt to delve into the understanding a research par-
ticipant may have that is of interest to their research project.
As with other mental mapping procedures, the creation of a
semantic map by a respondent avoids their needing to artic-
ulate their thinking behind the creation of a semantic map.
However, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, map making is
a very useful way in which the researcher may get a partici-
pant to “open up” and describe the thoughts and feelings they
have that are associated with the map they have created.
A semantic map is similar to the previously mentioned
mind map and much of the procedure for creating and analys-
ing this type of map applies in this instance too. However,
a semantic map has distinct characteristics such as linearity
existing in the concepts mapped and that concepts possess
two opposing poles that either the participant or the researcher
identifies. We will now briefly outline the procedure for using
this technique.
66 Mapping Approaches
The procedure starts in a similar way to the creation of a
mental map in that the researcher presents the participant with
a large sheet of blank paper, or a white- or black-board. The
researcher then draws a vertical straight line from near the
edge of the top of the sheet to near the bottom of the sheet.
Enough space should be left to allow a word or phrase to be
written between the end of the line and the edge of the sheet.
This procedure is then repeated by the researcher drawing a
horizontal line across the sheet. Arrow-heads are added to the
ends of the lines pointing towards the edges of the surface.
Each of these lines represents a construct that is pertinent to
the research domain that is being researched and which the
semantic map will represent. By construct, what is meant is
a meaningful dimension that a participant uses to understand
the domain being mapped. The next step therefore involves
the researcher either supplying a name for each of these con-
structs or eliciting this from the participant. The choice of
the construct is probably the most important in determining
the success of this method in answering the questions that
you have in your research. As mentioned about other quali-
tative research methods, if the constructs are labelled by the
researcher this will allow comparability between respondents
and may ensure that research questions are directly addressed.
However, by supplying the construct names, the researcher
is imposing what they believe to be the important constructs
rather than allowing a respondent to have free expression.
Let us imagine for a moment that a researcher has a spe-
cific project that is concerned with trying to understand voting
preferences in an upcoming election. The major issues that the
press have touted as being the issues that differentiate the can-
didates, and which will decide the results, are LGBTQ+ issues
and the economy in terms of whether a candidate supports
increasing or cutting public spending through tax raises. In
this instance, a semantic map could be used to see how poten-
tial voters see the candidates in terms of these issues. The
researcher therefore prepares a semantic with the two straight
arrow-headed lines drawn on this. At the top of the vertical
line they write “for LGBTQ+ rights” and at the bottom, they
 Mapping Approaches 67
write “against LGBTQ+ rights”. On the left-hand side of the
horizontal line, they write “against raising taxes” and on the
right-hand end of the line they write “for increasing taxes”.
What we now have is a sheet of paper, or other surface, that
has a cross on it that is labelled to represent the two political
issues. Let us imagine that there are eight candidates standing
in this constituency. The researcher then asks a participant to
look at each of the eight candidates’ names and to think about
their positions on LGBTQ+ rights and taxation and to locate
them somewhere on the semantic map. To illustrate this, if the
person looks at the first candidate and believes them to be
strongly for LGBTQ+ rights and to strongly advocate rais-
ing taxes, then they would write the candidate’s name towards
the top right-hand corner of the map. If the second candidate
advocates the opposite positions on these two issues (against
LGBTQ+/against tax raises), they would write their name at
the bottom left of the map. The third candidate who is strongly
for LGBTQ+ rights but slightly against raising taxes would be
located near the top of the sheet and slightly to the left of the
vertical line. The other five candidates would occupy posi-
tions determined by the two interacting constructs.
The procedure is the same for creating a semantic map
when the constructs are elicited from the participants rather
than being supplied by the researcher. In this situation, an ini-
tial phase to the map creation is required during which the
researcher has to establish the important constructs for each
participant. In reference to the voting example given earlier,
this would require the researcher to carefully talk with the
respondent and ask them, “when you think about the upcom-
ing election, what do you think are the most important issues”.
Instead of directly asking this question the researcher may
take some time to discuss this and ask several questions and
discuss the options before the participant is asked to decide
on the two main issues. When this stage is complete, the rest
of the procedure is as has already been noted. Analysis is also
similar to that undertaken with earlier mentioned approaches.
So far in this chapter we have presented several different
types of mapping techniques that a researcher may decide to
68 Mapping Approaches
use in their research. In order to assist in this decision, in the
section that follows, we will list some of the pros and cons of
these approaches.

Mind Maps Pros and Cons

When discussing mind maps in qualitative research, it is of
utmost importance to mention the values, limitations and
challenges. To begin, we will discuss the advantages of mind
maps and other forms of mapping procedures. Mind maps
can provide researchers with and organisational structure for
a large mass of information that may not be easy to digest
when this is presented as a table or in prose. Additionally, the
output from mapping procedures allows researchers to view
participants’ ideas, thoughts, feelings, their behaviours and
the relationships between these. Mind maps may be beneficial
for researchers in several different ways. Most importantly,
they help elucidate and explicate the perspective held by
respondents. Researchers are given the opportunity to iden-
tify and understand respondents’ points of view, standpoints,
attitudes, beliefs and how they conceive the relationships to
exist between concepts and sub-aspects of a concept. Another
benefit that mind maps supply is efficiency in their ability to
solve both applied and theoretical problems. Mind maps are
a relatively quick methodology to deploy is not overly time-
consuming to complete and can therefore offer rich insights
in a short amount of time. In addition to being time efficient,
mind maps are cost-effective. When used in its most basic for-
mat, all that is needed to conduct a mental mapping procedure
is a pen or pencil, a piece of paper and someone willing to
participate in the study. Mind maps promote brainstorming
by the participant and facilitate the effective communication
of insights into the personal meanings an individual has, in a
manner that can enable the researcher to learn a lot about the
participant and how they think. Time efficiency is an impor-
tant advantage as this allows the allocation of time to else-
where or to run supplementary and follow-up mind mapping
sessions.
 Mapping Approaches 69
As well as having advantages, it is important to note that
there are also disadvantages associated with using mind maps
in a qualitative research study. One of the main disadvantages
of mind maps is that it does not have any limits or restrictions.
This can be seen as a disadvantage because an infinite number
of categories and branches can be created by a participant. The
issue behind this is that many maps can get too large causing
confusion or for valuable information to be lost. Similarly, if
they are used in their most open or unguided by the researcher
format, mapping may produce idiosyncratic data that may not
answer the questions the researcher originally posed.
In this chapter, we have considered how researchers may
use a technique that asks a respondent to produce some form
of mental map of a specified content area. Below we will
consider one final use of mental maps: the presentation of
information.

Using Maps to Present Information

Whilst not actually being a research technique or approach,
we feel it is worthwhile mentioning the use of a form of mind
map to present the information that is generated in a research
study as many researchers reading this book may use this
technique. Mind maps can also be beneficial when present-
ing the data that has been collected in a research study. This
effort is to streamline the presentation process by breaking
down complex concepts so that the average reader may make
sense of the data. Concept mapping is a technique that can
demonstrate how people visualise relationships between vari-
ous concepts (Lanzing, 1996). Concept maps are a relative of
cognitive maps in psychology, because they provide a visual
representation of how people localise their knowledge and
construct ties between various concepts. Generally, concept
maps have been deployed in social sciences and qualitative
research-based studies. Concept maps consist of labelled
concepts, linking said concepts, hierarchies, and other visual
representations that might help researchers better understand
the participants’ minds and thought processes regarding the
70 Mapping Approaches

Figure 4.3 Example of Mind Map #3

selected links and relationships between concepts. The visual

representations might include overlapping circles, arrows
from one concept to another, word links or line links from
concept to concept (see Figure 4.3).

Conclusion
Mind mapping can be a useful tool for researchers when
designing a qualitative research study. When the investiga-
tion requires a look behind the curtain of how respondents
view certain concepts and form the relationships between
them, mind maps are the often the appropriate methodology
to use. This chapter aimed to discuss how people evaluate,
analyse and compartmentalise information and how this may
be revealed by researchers through the use of mind mapping
techniques. We discussed the history of mind maps, the step-
by-step process to conducting studies using both a mind map
 Mapping Approaches 71
and a semantic. Finally, we pondered upon the pros and cons
of these techniques. Mind maps are incredibly valuable if
properly understood and deployed correctly within a research
study. That being said, we shall conclude with three mind
mapping tips.

Use Differentiators
When constructing a mind map of your own, it is helpful to
use colour, a variety of line styles (darker lines, dotted lines,
etc.) various shapes to represent importance or other aspects
of the study that need to be differentiated clearly on the map.
Not only will this help make the map easier for the researcher
to digest information, but it will also give the participant the
opportunity to be creative and express their full self. Just make
sure to define the visual language before starting, so that the
results and insights will remain clear, concise and unambigu-
ous to the participant and to later readers of the study’s results.

Simplicity Is Key
Nowadays, there are a lot of mind mapping software tools
available on the web. What we have provided in our exam-
ples are the basic paper and pen applications as software may
not be available. Furthermore, being familiar with manual
applications of mapping procedures helps you to better
understand and use digital renditions of the same tests. If
you know how to use the digital versions then these can be
great resources. However, learning to use the software may
be considered by some researchers, especially those using a
new mapping technique in a small-scale study, that adopt-
ing new software with its learning curve to mastery before
application can overcomplicate the process. Typically, the
concept that the researcher is investigating and trying to
understand by using a mapping approach, is quite intricate
and complex. Therefore, the simpler the mind map is, the
easier it will be to use, to generate meaningful insights and
comprehend and use these.
72 Mapping Approaches
Physical Maps
Using pen and paper may seem primitive with all the technol-
ogy we have these days. However, constructing a mind map by
hand can be beneficial because it enhances memory through
actively involving participants in the construction process.
Preference and situation are important here. For instance, if
the study is being conducted globally or your team is located
elsewhere, employing a digital or remote mind map may be
the best solution. The same may be true if your sample partici-
pants are young and used to digital platforms. In this situation,
they may feel more at home in the digital world whilst older
people may be happier in an analogue world.
Kindly note that these aren’t the mind mapping standards
but instead are our personal tips to constructing a powerful
and effective mind map.

References
Buzan, T. (2018). Mind Map Mastery: The Complete Guide to Learn-
ing and Using the Most Powerful Thinking Tool in the Universe.
London: Watkins Publishing.
Casey, E.S. (2002). Representing Place: Landscape Painting and
Maps. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Cassirer, E. (1946). Language and Myth. New York: Harper &
Brothers.
Downs, R.M., and Stea, D. (2018). Image and Environment: Cogni-
tive Mapping and Spatial Behavior. New York: Routledge.
Glaser, B.G. (1965). The Constant Comment Method of Qualitative
Analysis. Social Problems, 12(4), 436–445.
Habermas, J. (1976). Communication and the Evolution of Society.
London: Polity Press.
Hathaway, A.D., and Atkinson, M. (2003). Active Interview Tactics
in Research on Public Deviants: Exploring the Two-cop Personas.
Field Methods, 15, 161–185.
Husserl, E. (1970). The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcen-
dental Phenomenology. D. Carr (trans.). Evanston: Northwestern
University Press.
Korzybski, A. (1933). Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-
Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics. Fort Worth: Institute
of General Semantics.
 Mapping Approaches 73
Lanzing, J.W.A. (1996). Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About . . . Concept Mapping. Retrieved October 8, 2005. http://
users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm
MacEachren, A.M. (2004). How Maps Work: Representation, Visu-
alization, and Design. New York: The Guilford Press.
Tattersall, C., Watts, A., and Vernon, S. (2007). Mind Mapping as
a Tool in Qualitative Research. Nursing Times, 103(26), 32–33.
5 Developing Your Own
Unique Projective or Sort
Approach

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we consider the fact that there is no single way
to design and conduct research that is based upon or includes
a projective technique. We note how these approaches are
very frequently used within a focus group setting and that
they may be used to accompany and compliment other forms
of data gathering. We then take the reader through step-by-
step approach to how a novel projective technique may be
developed in order to meet the specific needs of a particular
piece of research. We consider how a researcher may wish
to attempt to understand how participants think and feel
about candidates in a political election. We suggest that the
researcher may decide to develop a novel form of an empty
balloon procedure to delve into participants’ understanding of
the candidates. We offer three variations of this basic design
and suggest the type of information that the three variations
may produce and the insight they may provide. An example
is also provided of a novel technique that we have designed
specifically as an illustration for this book, which employs the
gathering of digital visual and sound files, in order to illustrate
a participant’s disposition towards an event or object.

Introduction
Up to this point in the book, we have reviewed projective tests
of many types. One thing that all of these tests have had in

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-6
 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort 75
common is that they have been previously used in human-
subject research. That is to say, they exist and the researchers
have been able to choose one or more of these tests for their
research. There are, however, times when existing techniques
may not be a perfect fit for the research in hand. Furthermore,
projective approaches are very frequently used within focus
group research and may need to be adapted to the specific
context of the group or to accompany and compliment the
other forms of data gathering that are being used. In this situ-
ation, the researcher may choose to adapt an existing projec-
tive test or to develop a totally new projective procedure. If
the researcher chooses to develop a new projective technique,
the first thing that they must be aware of is that there is no
single way to design and conduct human subject research that
is based upon or includes a projective technique within its
design.1
In this chapter, we take the reader through how a novel
projective technique may be developed in order to meet the
specific needs of a particular piece of research and provide an
example of how to design a novel projective tool.

Introduction to Developing Projective

or Sort Approaches
It is worthy of note that developing a projective method for
your research project may not be an overly complicated, time
consuming or expensive enterprise. Unlike psychometric tests
and questionnaires, projective methods are attempting to gather
information that is in essence a snapshot that is valid at the
time and place of its being collected but typically not beyond.
As such a newly developed projective technique does not have
to go through stringent and lengthy piloting and the data gath-
ered does not have to be analysed from different samples in
order to develop an understanding of how responses from the
new tool are related to the population to which the researcher is
attempting to compare the information he or she has collected
in a new study. This does not mean that projective techniques
can be thrown together. The opposite is true and much careful
76 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort
preparation much be gone through. A new projective test will
also need to be piloted in order to see if it works, if it is under-
stood by participants, and to see if it produces the type of infor-
mation the researcher was hoping for. It should be remembered
that as researchers, we may understand the area of research in
a totally different manner to the participants in our study. We
know that a projective test will produce responses that answer
the questions we are asking in the way we are asking them,
and that respondents are understanding the procedure as we
wished them to, only after we have asked a few respondents
to offer their responses to our projective procedure: only after
such piloting can we be sure the participants understand what
is being asked of them in the way intended.
Below we will suggest ways of developing a projective
approach. However, before we provide an illustration as to
how to develop a new projective approach, we will start by
considering the use of projectives in focus groups and other
settings as this will demonstrate how the need to develop a
novel technique may arise and be met.

Projective Approaches and Focus Group

Research
We are using the example of using projective techniques with
focus groups as this practice is both common place and is also
illustrative of how a projective technique may be developed to
address the specific research questions and context of the group
(see Hackett, 2015; Hackett et al., 2016). The reason for projec-
tive techniques frequently being included within focus groups is
that these groups have the aim of generating new ideas and novel
solutions to problems. Similarly, projective techniques may have
these aims and represent a way of delving deeper into the thoughts
and emotions of the participants, either as individuals or as a group
(Cui et al., 2018; Pich and Dean, 2015; Varela et al., 2022).

Other Forms of Data Gathering

Focus groups are not the only other types of research studies
that projectives may be used in tandem with. For example,
 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort 77
in-depth interviews are a means for exploring an individual’s
knowledge of or beliefs about an event or phenomenon that
allows the researcher to probe and ask follow-up questions to
achieve clarity and well-constructed answers to the research
questions. When used in this context, projective techniques
may be used before, during or after the interview. When used
before the interview, the researcher has the intention of using
the technique to reveal information about the topic of the inter-
view that may be used to generate or modify the subsequent
interview. When used during the interview, the researcher will
ask questions and will then use the projective procedure to
elaborate upon these prior to returning to the interview to fur-
ther explore these issues. When employed after a focus group,
the projective technique may be used to explore the informa-
tion that has been revealed during the in-depth interview.

An Example of the Development of a Novel

Projective Research Approach
When designing your own unique projective technique, the
first thing the researcher must do is to refamiliarise themselves
with the overall research topic and the questions and aims of
the research project. They then need to ask themselves why
they are considering including a projective approach in their
project. The answer to this question may take the form of an
answer such as: to try to tap into the unconscious knowledge
or motives behind respondents’ verbal responses; to enable the
participant’s ability to physically manipulate stimulus mate-
rial and to thus reveal the way they feel parts of the research
topic relate to each other, or; to reveal the way the respondent
thinks about a particular concept or topic and the underlying
associations that a respondent has in regard to this topic. There
are many other answers to the question of why a researcher is
considering using a projective technique in their research, but
the three examples will serve to illustrate how knowing why
the projective approach is being considered a good starting
point when attempting to design a new projective technique.
If we look at each of the three example answers to why the
projective technique is being seen as an option, then we will
78 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort
be able to see that specific projective approaches appear to be
most appropriate for each answer.
For example, with the first answer, to try to tap into the
unconscious knowledge, feelings or motives behind respond-
ents’ verbal responses, an approach is needed that presents
the participants’ verbal responses back to them in a way that
requires and enables them to provide further responses that
are not verbal. An example of a projective technique that is
suitable in this situation may be a sort procedure in which
the main aspects of the respondents’ verbal replies are pre-
sented to the respondent on cards and they are asked to per-
form a triadic sort of the cards, which is a procedure in which
a respondent identifies why two of the terms on the cards are
similar to each other but from the third term. A triadic sort-
ing procedure would also facilitate further discussion around
why the respondent has sorted the cards in the way they have.
In the second example, to enable the participant’s ability to
physically manipulate stimulus material and to thus reveal the
way they feel parts of the research topic relate to each other,
cards with words or phrases could again be used, or physi-
cal objects could be the items that are sorted, and participants
could be asked to sort the items in any way they wish in order
to reflect how they felt the items related to each other. As with
the first example, this sorting would then form the basis of
further discussions and explorations as to why the items were
sorted as they were. In the final example, to reveal the way
the respondent thinks about a particular social concept or
topic and the underlying associations that a respondent has
in regard to this topic, an empty balloon technique may be
used that requires the participant to supply words or phrases to
fill empty speech balloons for pairs of stick figures which are
presented to them and where the researchers specify the situa-
tions in which the stick figures are supposed to be located. The
figures may be the participant or other specified individuals or
they may be un-named. As with other projective techniques,
discussion and exploration of responses will follow.
If we take the last of these examples, the speech balloons
used to reveal the way the respondent thinks about a particular
 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort 79
social concept or topic and the underlying associations that a
respondent uses in regard to this topic, we can provide details
about how a researcher could design a projective procedure
that is unique to this study. A few further details of this imagi-
nary study are first needed in order to provide a contextual
background to the projective we will design. If we imagine we
are interested in how people will vote in an upcoming elec-
tion for a local politician, we would start by asking ourselves
what it is we are hoping to achieve or reveal through using a
projective technique in this situation. Our answer may be that
we wish to reveal and to understand an individual’s thoughts
and feelings towards each of the prospective candidates. Of
course, we could simply ask participants in our study ques-
tions such as: “what do you think about candidate X?”; “what
do you think about candidate Y?”; and “what do you think
about candidate Z?” Such questions would be likely to reveal
what the respondents consciously think about the candidates
and the rationalisation the participants use to filter and justify
their thoughts and their verbal reports of these. Such rational
reports may provide information for our study but are likely
to miss many of the more subconscious beliefs and feelings a
respondent holds.
With this aim in mind, we could design empty balloon pro-
cedures as follows.
First, we could produce some printed or digital images of
two stick people located against the background of an image
that represented a participant’s front door (there would be text
under the image explaining that the door is your front door
and the researcher would also explain this). Also under the
one stick figure would be the word “you” and under the sec-
ond figure, the name of one of the candidates. The researcher
would explain to the participant that the image depicts the
scenario in which the candidate comes to you front door and
introduces themselves to you. You are asked to first fill in
your empty speech bubble with the most pressing question
you would like to ask the candidate and then to fill in the can-
didate’s bubble with the response you believe they may make.
By doing this, it may be possible to demonstrate respondent’s
80 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort
most pressing uncertainty they have with a candidate (as
revealed in the candid question) and also to demonstrate their
feelings about the candidate through the response they imag-
ine the candidate will give to them.
A second empty balloon procedure we could use may
be designed to reveal how the candidates are differentiated
by the respondent. In order to address this aim, we could
produce a different empty balloon procedure in which we
have as many stick figures as there are candidates in the
election. Each stick figure would have a candidate’s name
printed below it and the respondent would be asked to fill
in an empty speech bubble for each candidate. In this exam-
ple, the background would be blank and the researcher would
explain that the respondent should imagine all of the candi-
dates met in a neutral setting and that each candidate was
able to ask a single question of another single candidate. The
respondent would then be asked to fill in the response bubble
for each candidate specifying to whom the question is aimed
and what the question is. This procedure may reveal how
the respondent sees each candidate’s orientation towards the
important questions that determine the upcoming election. It
may also show how the respondent thinks that each candi-
date has or does not have answers that differentiate each of
the candidates.
A third projective approach could be incorporated into the
research project which uses the same image with multiple
stick figures representing each of the candidates and each fig-
ure having an empty speech bubble above their heads. This
time the researcher would explain to the respondent that the
candidates are all prepared to answer the same single question
from them. The respondent is then asked what their question
would be and the respondent is also asked to fill in a response
for each candidate. By using this approach, it would be the
hope of the researcher to identify the single biggest issue for
the candidate. They may also be able to assess the relative
strengths and weaknesses of each candidate in terms of this
salient issue.
 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort 81
Closing Summary of Adapted Technique
In this chapter, we have emphasised the fact that projective
techniques are varied and very adaptable to the needs of a spe-
cific research question and situation. In order to support this
assertion, we provided an example of an imaginary research
study into political candidates and how voter understanding
of the candidates may be tapped using projective approaches
that used the empty balloon technique. In the above sections,
we have aimed to illustrate how a simple projective technique
can be conceived of and then designed in a way that would
address a specific need in a fictitious research project. The
example provided also shows how a projective technique can
be adapted so that it incorporates a series of differences in
what is essentially the same procedure; in our case, this was
the empty bubble approach and we hope that our illustrative
example will encourage readers to consider adapting projec-
tive approaches in order to specifically meet their own needs.
We also said at the start of the chapter that after we presented
the adaptation of an existing projective, we would illustrate
how to design a new projective approach. In the next, and
final, section of this chapter, we present such an illustration.

A Novel Approach
It should be stressed that whilst the example provided earlier
was an adaptation, the widely used empty bubble approach
for gathering qualitative data, the researcher does not have to
adapt an existing approach and may design a procedure totally
from their imagination. For instance, through brainstorming,
we have just come up with the idea of creating a more intricate
and perhaps a slightly longer longer-term projective approach.
In this imaginary study, the participant is given a specific
topic and it is explained that this is the area the research is
about. This topic may be about a thing, an event, an object,
a product, service and so on, or it may be of a state of being,
such as happiness, sorrow and contentment. The participant is
82 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort
then asked to use their phone to record still and moving images
and to record any pertinent sounds and/or their own spoken
thoughts about the topic they have been given. They would be
told that entries should reflect how they are thinking and feeling
about the topic they have been given. Participants are instructed
to make at least one entry per day for a specified period of time.
They are also told that they can however make as many entries
as they wish. The time over which the procedure will run would
be determined by the researcher, which could be just a couple
of days or up to, for example, a week. It would probably be
better to stick to a week as the maximum so as to maintain the
interest of participants and the quality of their entries.
Once the material has been gathered by the participant, the
researcher will have to decide how they wish the respond-
ent to present the material to them. They could, for example,
ask them to go through what they have recorded whilst the
researcher is present, explain the reasons for the inclusion of
the image or sound and provide details around their spoken
contributions. An alternate and more complex way of present-
ing the material would be to ask the participant to assemble
a social media page that displays the material they gathered
arranged in a way that allows the participant to best convey
the message they wish to convey.

Conclusion
We hope that the illustrations of adapting an approach and
developing a totally new approach have provided readers with
a clear understanding in regard to the design and modification
of projective techniques in order to fit the researcher’s ques-
tions. In the next chapter, we turn our attention to the poten-
tial future application of projective approaches in areas and
domains in which they have tended not to have been used.

Note
1 There are many good texts that exist which assist with the design
of qualitative human subject research to which interested readers
 Developing Your Own Unique Projective or Sort 83
are guided, for example: Bukve, 2019; Blaikie and Priest, 2019;
Hackett, 2015; LeCompte and Shensul, 2020; Marshall, 2021.

References
Blaikie, N., and Priest, J. (2019). Designing Social Research: The
Logic of Anticipation. Cambridge: Polity.
Bukve, O. (2019). Designing Social Science Research. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Cui, C., Mrad, M., and Hogg, M. (2018). Brand Addiction: Explor-
ing the Concept and Its Definition Through an Experiential Lens.
Journal of Business Research, 87, 118–127.
Hackett, P.M.W. (ed.) (2015). Qualitative Research Methods in Con-
sumer Psychology: Ethnography and Culture. New York: Rout-
ledge Publishers.
Hackett, P.M.W., Schwarzenbach, J.B., and Jurgens, A.M. (2016).
Consumer Psychology: A Study Guide to Qualitative Research
Methods. Leverkusen, Germany: Barbara Budrich Publishers.
LeCompte, M.D., and Shensul, J.J. (2020). Designing and Conduct-
ing Ethnographic Research: An Introduction (Volume 1) (Ethnog-
rapher’s Toolkit, 2nd edition, 1), Washington, DC: AltaMira Press.
Marshall, C. (2021). Designing Qualitative Research. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Pich, C., and Dean, D. (2015). Qualitative Projective Techniques in
Political Brand Image Research From the Perspective of Young
Adults. Qualitative Market Research, 18(1), 115–144.
Varela, P., Arvisenet, G., Gonera, A., Myhrer, K., Fifi, V., and Valentin, D.
(2022). Meat Replacer? No Thanks! The Clash Between Natural-
ness and Processing: An Explorative Study of the Perception of
Plant-Based Foods. Appetite, 169, 105793.
6 The Future of Projective
Technique Research

Chapter Summary
There are very many spheres of enquiry within which projec-
tive technique research has the possibility or indeed the likeli-
hood of being employed in the future. This obviously includes
the areas in which it has already been applied. It is also likely
that when conducting research in areas that have already been
investigated, the manner in which these techniques have been
used will likely be similar to earlier investigations. However,
in this chapter, we will make attempts to predict the more
novel ways and situations in which projective techniques will
be used in the future, and we will consider unusual approaches
and domains of usage. We concentrate upon three such neo-
teric techniques and domains: using projective techniques in
critical social research and with individuals from minority
communities; using projective techniques in conjunction with
the declarative mapping approach; and using projective tech-
niques in online contexts.

Introduction
In this chapter, we consider the future for research that
employs a projective or mapping approach in its design. There
are always difficulties whenever we attempt to predict the
future in any context, and this is certainly the case in the rap-
idly changing world of social science and humanities research

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-7
 The Future of Projective Technique Research 85
methods. However, we will do our best to gaze into our crystal
ball and to make suggestions as to some of the ways in which
projective and sorting-based approaches may usefully evolve
or be adapted in the future. We will consider several areas
within which we believe these approaches may be particu-
larly useful. We will, for example, consider the application of
projective techniques in critical social research, social justice
and inclusion research. We will also consider using projec-
tive techniques within the declarative mapping sentence and
approach to social research, and we will discuss a little upon
how human subject research has recently moved to using digi-
tally based methods.1

Critical Social Research

In this section, it is important to first seat out what we mean by
“critical social research”. Critical social research is a phrase
that is employed to describe research that adopts approaches
to social enquiry that make efforts to delve underneath initial
or surface meanings or appearances. This form of research
attempts to reveal less apparent meanings within the social
world by becoming involved with the subject matter of their
research in a critical manner and not simply accepting the
apparent. According to Harvey (1990, 1993, 2012, 2022a,
2022b, 2022c, 2022d), critical social research within the social
sciences can trace its roots back to the writing of Karl Marx
(Marx, [1887] 1977) and has since been developed by Marx-
ists, feminists, anti-racists, structuralists, film theorists, post-
colonialists and others. Harvey (2022a) differentiates critical
social research from other methods as critical social research,
he says, is not in the business of trying to form causal or
pseudo-causal links between concepts in the research domain
we are investigating. Neither is it, Harvey says, attempting to
establish elaborate theoretically complex systems of beliefs.
Harvey contrasts critical social research with other research
traditions in the social sciences, such as positivism and phe-
nomenology, where he notes that positivism’s main concern
is with establishing causal relationships and explanations and
86 The Future of Projective Technique Research
where phenomenology sets itself the task of interpreting the
meaning of social processes and actions.
Many approaches to research are being re-imagined within
a critical framework. For example, recently Michelle Fine
and Maria Elene Torre (2021) have focused upon participa-
tory action research within a critical context. Similarly, Heide
Levitt (2021) has considered critical-constructivist grounded
theory research. These authors, as with all who consider a
critical perspective within their research, are concerned with
the real-world, everyday setting of their research. For exam-
ple, critical participatory action research, “focusses intention-
ally on questions of power and injustice, intersectionality
and action” (Fine and Torre, 2021). Critical social research is
more than adopting an approach to research that attempts to
achieve a sensitivity to the power issues and how these both
impact, and are part of, the research context; the researcher
who adopts a critical approach is typically motivated by wish-
ing to make a positive difference in regard to social justice.
To quote Fine and Torre (2021), “We view critical research as
one more resource in, by and for movement for justice”.
There are many research orientations that have been
employed, critically or otherwise, in enquiries into social
justice. In this section, we will consider how the approaches
to research we have presented in this book have the poten-
tial to make a meaningful impact in the area of social justice
research. More specifically, what we are meaning by social
justice in the context of using projective techniques is the
potential these approaches have to be more inclusive of com-
munities that fall outside of those from the affluent global
north.
We believe that projective approaches are potentially
of value in social justice research as projective techniques
require minimal verbal input from the administrator, and
as these approaches are attempting to delve deeply into the
motives of respondents, projectives are techniques that hold
the potential to reveal the beliefs, attitudes and values of indi-
viduals in a way that empowers the participant. This suggests
that projective and sort-based methods are sensitive research
 The Future of Projective Technique Research 87
approaches in the specific context of facilitating the voice of
individuals from marginalised communities.

Projective Methods in Critical Research

The main characteristic of all projective methods is approaches
reliance upon a substantial input from the participant, and at
the same time, the approach requires a lesser degree of inter-
jection by the researcher. Furthermore, the researcher using
projective methods attempts to make the input they offer dur-
ing the research process as non-directive as possible. This
clearly places the participant in the driving seat in regard
to their being able to both guide the research and provide
responses in the ways they wish to. This is of particular value
in critical research as critical research, by its very nature and
definition, may be seen to be pushing back against hegemonic
forces and opinions held by institutions of the establishment,
of which the researcher may be a part. Of course, projective
techniques are still subject to the participant being part of the
institutions of the dominant social institutions and these mem-
berships influencing the participant’s responses. However,
these and other bias and influences are part of the research
process that critical research attempt to mitigate against. Not-
withstanding such potential issues, we believe that projective
techniques offer a viable way of maximising the strength of
the voice of participants in critical social justice research.

Projective Methods as Sensitive Research

Approaches
When the research that is being conducted is into an area that
the participant may find sensitive, projective techniques may
be appropriate methods for gathering information. The reasons
for the applicability of projective approaches are many-fold,
and include such reasons as that using a projective technique
may allow sensitive topics to be presented in a less threatening
and in a less direct manner. Projective approaches, by allowing
respondents to provide the response they wish in a way they
88 The Future of Projective Technique Research
decide, may be less intrusive, or may initiate less in the way of
a guarded response, than other more direct forms of enquiry.
Additionally, and as with any projective technique research,
the approach provides an excellent window that the researcher
may open to allow in-depth discussions about the topic that is
being addressed. The fact that the participant has guided the
research may also mean that they will be more open to respond
honestly and openly to follow-up probes from the researcher.

Projective Methods With Individuals

in Marginalised Communities
In any social science research project, researchers may, and
indeed are likely to be drawn from very different sections of the
community to those from which the respondents they are work-
ing with come from. The values that researchers hold, and even
the language they use, may also differ significantly to the lan-
guage and values of the people they are working with. Projec-
tive techniques, whilst they will not completely remove these
potential difficulties and biases, may help to work against these
potential problems as they require lesser degrees of input from
the researcher. Furthermore, researchers may be able to more
readily understand the responses given by a participant as the
participant wished them to owing to the fact that the response
is often not linguistic and the respondent may elaborate upon a
response rather than simply giving a verbal reply to a question.
So far in this chapter, we have briefly considered the nature
of critical social research and the use of projective techniques
within specific areas: marginalised communities and when
addressing sensitive research questions. In the paragraphs that
follow, we will offer some suggestions regarding the use of
projectives and mapping approaches when using a declarative
mapping approach as your research design.

The Declarative Mapping Approach

The projective and mapping/sorting techniques we have pre-
sented in this book have been considered by us stand-alone
 The Future of Projective Technique Research 89
research methods. However, all research exists within a context,
which may be made up of events and circumstances outside
of the research itself or other forms of information gathering
within a broader research project. Furthermore, many research
projects may be complex in nature and attempt to simultane-
ously consider multiple aspects of a research situation in their
efforts to provide the answers to the questions and aims of its
research. Such intricate research is often difficult to effective
design, conduct, manage and analyse. In this section, we pre-
sent the declarative mapping approach to conducting complex
types of research (Hackett, 2014, 2020, 2021a, 2021b; Hackett
and Fisher, 2019; Hackett and Gordley-Smith, 2022a, 2022b;
Hackett and Li, 2022; Hackett and Lustig, 2021; Schwarzen-
bach and Hackett, 2015).2 The declarative mapping sentence
provides a flexible and reflexive framework within which to
both design and analyse complex research enquiries, and we
propose that declarative mapping sentences may be used with
profit in research designs that include complex projective
techniques that may consider the context.
The declarative mapping approach to social science
research is based within a descriptive philosophical frame-
work that is developed to become a method of explication and
elucidation. The qualitative researcher who employs the use
of the declarative mapping approach uses its major tool, the
declarative mapping sentence, within which they specify the
major subparts of a domain that is the focus of research inter-
est. The declarative mapping sentence also posits the relation-
ships between these major sub-components (Hackett, 2014,
2018, 2020, 2021a, 2021b) that have been applied to study
numerous social science and humanities research topics from
a variety of disciplines (e.g. Hackett, 2016, 2017, 2019; Hack-
ett and Gordley-Smith, 2022a, 2022b; Hackett and Li, 2022;
Schwarzenbach and Hackett, 2015).
Declarative mapping sentences are explicit statements of
the part-to-whole and part-to-part relationships of the major
sub-components of the domain that the researcher is studying.
By developing and stating a declarative mapping sentence
for a domain, the researcher attempts to bring clarity and
90 The Future of Projective Technique Research
appreciation of the research in a way that makes clear how
the sub-aspects of the research domain interact. Moreover, the
declarative mapping sentence provides a flexible and adapta-
ble framework for designing research instruments to examine
the domain that is mapped. The declarative mapping sentence
is written in normal language and constitutes a framework or
structure that the researcher tailors to a specific research situ-
ation in response to the findings the researcher reveals as they
conduct their research project. Declarative mapping sentence
research, by its explicit nature, constitutes a transparent and
rigorous approach to conducting research which allows the
results from different declarative mapping approach projects
to be compared. Because the domain that is being studied is
overtly stated within the sentence, the imposition of research-
er’s interpretative biases is reduced.
We have very briefly described the declarative mapping
approach to research, which we believe would work well
together with projective research techniques. The reason
for our holding belief is that the Declarative mapping
approach provides a framework for designing research
and interpreting the results of a research project that has
been designed within the sentence’s rubric. Projective
approaches, on the other hand, offer a set of tools for gath-
ering information in a respondent-driven approach that
allows for the respondent’s voice to be at the forefront of
the research. We believe that bringing the two approaches
together would have specific benefits and an illustrative
example will help the reader to appreciate better this syn-
thesis of approaches.
If we take the example of our wishing to gauge a sample of
respondents’ attitudes and beliefs towards their experiences in
a nature reserve, we may decide that we want to understand
users’ responses to different aspects of the nature reserve
through a triadic sort approach. Having made the decision to
use this projective research method, we are faced with deter-
mining the content of the materials that we wish our respond-
ents to sort. If a declarative mapping approach was adopted
and used in conjunction with the triadic sort, then the first task
 The Future of Projective Technique Research 91
would be for the researcher to review literature, publications
and other reports and writing about the reserve, along with
having initial, open, conversations with individuals about their
experiences in the location. This review that they have under-
taken would, it is hoped, identify the major aspects of nature
reserve experience, or any other themes that participants feel
to be important. For example, after engaging in such an ini-
tial review, the researcher may identify the following themes:
services at the reserve; social aspects of the reserve; direct-
ness of contact with aspects of the reserve and pertinence to
the user in order to achieve their aims whilst at the reserve.
Having identified these major themes of reserve experience,
the researchers would then write these as a declarative map-
ping sentence in which the themes are linked with ordinary
language phrases in a manner which suggest the associations
between themes. An example of this declarative mapping sen-
tence would be:

A person experiences the nature reserve in terms of

the services at the reserve and the social aspects of the
reserve with which they have different levels of direct-
ness of contact with aspects of the reserve as these are
pertinent to user in order to achieve their aims whilst at
the reserve.

The major themes, that are known as facets, are high-

lighted in italic script.

The researchers would then need to pilot-test these issues

to see if they had managed to correctly identify these and that
they made sense to respondents (we will not go into details of
piloting as this is not what we are concentrating upon in this
example). Having identified the major aspects of the research
domain, which are termed “facets”, and joined these together
in a sentence that suggests how the facets are inter-related, the
next task is to identify the sub-aspects of each facet. The sub-
aspects of each facet are how an individual actually relates
to the reserve in terms of the facet. For example, with the
92 The Future of Projective Technique Research
directness of content with the nature reserve’s facilities, the
sub-components (which are called elements) may be direct
and indirect. The elements of the services at the reserve facet
may have elements of bird/nature watching, refreshments, car
parking and reserve information. Thus, the declarative map-
ping sentence may be written as:

A person experiences the nature reserve in terms of the

(services at the reserve) – 1
• bird/nature watching – a
• refreshments – b
• car parking – c
• reserve information – d
• toilets – e
services, and
(social aspects of the reserve) – 2
• access to reserve staff – a
• chances to be alone – b
• meeting/discussion areas – c
• signage – d
with which they have
(different levels of directness of contact) – 3
• direct – a
• indirect – b
Levels of contact, with aspects of the reserve as these are
(pertinent to user in order to achieve their aims) – 4
• more pertinent – a
• less pertinent – b
to them achieving their aims whilst at the reserve.

(N.B.: The letters after the facet names and the letters after
the elements are included so as the facets and elements
may be identified in the writing in this book and are not
a necessary part of a declarative mapping sentence.)
 The Future of Projective Technique Research 93
The declarative mapping sentence that the researcher has
assembled forms a template for designing any projective pro-
cedures so that it addresses their research questions. In our
example, by selecting elements from each facet and combin-
ing this with elements from other facets, a project technique
may be tailored to comprehensively focus upon user experi-
ence at the nature reserve. To take a more specific example,
if we decided to use a triadic sort technique, we could design
this to have the features of the reserve’s experience as these
are specific in the declarative mapping sentence, written on
cards for the respondents to differentiate. Each word or phrase
on a card would be typified by a profile that is made up of a
combination of one element from each facet. For example, if
our sample was of bird watchers, the phrase “visibility from
bird hides” could be printed on one card. Given the sample in
our study, this phrase would have a profile of: 1a, 2b, 3b, 4a.
Another example phrase could be “food in the reserve cafe”
which would have a profile of: 1b, 2c, 3b, 4b. The profiles are
suggestive and only after the research has been conducted and
analysed can the researcher have confidence in the profiles.
For instance, we have suggested in the second example profile
that the cafe’s facilities are of less pertinence to birdwatchers
but this may not be the case for every particular sample of
respondents.
As well as being a framework for designing comprehensive
research, the declarative mapping sentence forms a structure
around which the information that comes out of procedures
such as triadic sorts may be analysed. Finally, it is also a
framework for structuring the write-up of the results from a
research project.

The Move to Digital Research Methods

Over the course of the past several decades, much of the
world has moved online. The transference of research so as
to incorporate online methods and data is very much the case
when we look at research into human behaviour and experi-
ence (e.g. see Przybylski, 2020; Tensen, 2019; Hackett and
94 The Future of Projective Technique Research
Hayre, 2021a). The advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic
accelerated the move of research to be conducted within
a digital context as the disease made face-to-face contact
problematic or prohibited in many contexts: This was espe-
cially within social science and humanities research. As a
consequence, during the pandemic, the move to more online
forms of research was hastened and many new digital/online
techniques were developed and existing methodologies have
been rapidly adapted for use within a digital context (e.g. see
Accelerant Research, 2022). Online methods came to the fore
at this time and even those who had previously resisted using
a digitally based research approach found themselves with lit-
tle choice but to adopt one. In the section below we consider
the move online for projective approaches and what the future
may hold.
For the qualitative researcher, projective techniques lend
themselves extremely well to an online setting and research-
ers have hastily and vigorously adopted them. Much of the
qualitative research that is conducted online may employ
software-based interactive components and online projec-
tive techniques may be designed and administered in order to
facilitate many of the aims of the qualitative researcher. For
example, online projective tests may be (to some extent) stand-
ardised in that they can be designed and then administered in
a consistent manner. Online projective approaches may also
be semi-structured and this feature enables for greater and
easier comparability between different applications. Moreo-
ver, online applications of projective procedures may allow
a researcher to take advantage of the positive aspects of pro-
jective approaches in a potentially cheaper format and one
which does not require participants and researchers to have
to travel and be physically present together during the deliv-
ery of the procedure. When giving tests online, it is usually a
good idea for the researcher to provide ample information on
how to complete a test as the researcher is not physically pre-
sent, which would allow interaction with the participant about
any uncertainties they may encounter. However, when using
these techniques online, it must be remembered not to provide
 The Future of Projective Technique Research 95
participants with too much information in regard to how they
complete the projective procedure as you are attempting to
gain spontaneous insight from the respondent. It should also
be remembered that many offline projective applications can
be readily and highly effectively adapted to the online context.
Examples of projective approaches that have been adapted
to a digital format include many of the text-based methods.
Text-based approaches, such as sentence or story completion,
obituaries and billboards, are obvious candidates for digital
and online presentation as they simply involve the participant
in writing a response onto a computer. Sort approaches have
also been successfully adapted to the digital realm. We are
all probably familiar with online and digital card games, and
the sort procedures are close analogies to these and readily
can include text and images formatted sort procedures. Most
other types of projectives approaches, such as creating mental
maps, can successfully be moved to a digital and online form
of usage. The greatest challenge perhaps are techniques that
require the manipulation of physical objects in sorts or other
techniques.
As we write, during the latter months of 2022, the COVID-19
pandemic is less severe than it was, and most restrictions on
activities have been removed in most countries. Notwith-
standing this return to some form of normality, digitally-based
research has taken a huge step forward due to the pandemic,
and due to the ease, efficiency and cost-saving characteris-
tics associated with locating research in this realm, it is likely
to become more and more common-place. Moreover, much
of the world has interacted online and digitally for three plus
decades and increasing proportions of the world are extremely
comfortable, and even expect, to conduct a lot of their lives
online, including the completion of research projects in which
they participate.

Conclusion
In this chapter, we have gazed into our crystal-ball and made
prophecies in regard to how we believe that projective techniques
96 The Future of Projective Technique Research
may be used in the future. We may well be incorrect in our pre-
dictions, as the future is typically extremely difficult to foretell.
However, in spite of such challenges, we hope we have indi-
cated that projective techniques are evolving procedures that we
believe will be employed by a wide range of professional and
academic researchers who wish to gather information to provide
insight into how people think, feel and behave.

Notes
1 Interesting examples of analogous research can be found in:
Hackett and Hayre, 2021a, 2021b; Hackett and Schwarzenbach,
2021.
2 The declarative mapping sentence was developed out of the tra-
ditional mapping sentence (see Levy, 1976, 1985, 1990) which is
a major component of the facet theory approach to social science
research (see Borg and Shye, 1995; Canter, 1985; Dancer, 1990;
Guttman, 1954; Hackett, 2014; Shye et al., 1994; Tziner, 1987).

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7 Conclusion

Chapter Summary
Our final chapter constitutes a very brief conclusion. Within
this book, we have presented a wide range of approaches to
gathering data that fall under the umbrella of projective tech-
niques. These have, to a very large extent, been approaches
that collect qualitative data that are often thought of as sub-
conscious or at least not within the usual arena of awareness
for, and easily controllable by, the individuals from whom
the data is being gathered. In this final chapter, our writing
will aim to simply bring together all the writing that has been
included in the preceding six chapters, and we add our con-
cluding remarks. We also briefly outline the intended role of
the supplements that follow this final chapter, and these are a
glossary of terms and our suggestions for further reading.

Summary of the Book

We started this book by reflecting upon the fact that there are
many approaches to conducting research that fall within the
disciplines of the social sciences and humanities. We also com-
mented upon our observation that there was a lack of a single
book that clearly and exclusively presented the topic of pro-
jective technique research approaches and did so in a manner
that would form a useful and readily understandable guide for
readers who were unfamiliar with such approaches to research.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003285892-8
 Conclusion 101
Throughout this succinct book, we have, as authors,
attempted to convey our belief that if you are a scholar or a
practitioner from a wide range of disciplines that take human
behaviour and experience as their subject matter, projective
research approaches are extremely useful and valid ways of
gathering research data. We trust that what we have writ-
ten convinces you that our belief in projective research is
well founded (if indeed you needed convincing). It is also
our hope that you will be willing to consider using projec-
tive approaches in your future research. We further hope that
we have conveyed our passion for these approaches and the
unique way they are able to represent the participant’s per-
spective within the social science research context.
One of the central aspects of the approaches that we have
included in this book, and indeed one of the principal compo-
nents of the projective approaches we did not have space to
include, is the fact that projective techniques may be adapted
to a wide and infinitely varied range of research questions,
problems and situations. We want to stress that, perhaps
uniquely amongst research techniques that are focused upon
revealing information about human behaviour and experi-
ence, using projective approaches requires the researcher to
be creative and imaginative in conceiving, designing and con-
ducting their research.
The illustrative approaches we have included in the book
are not supposed to be “set in stone” although many of these
have been used for many years in approximately the format
that we have detailed in the book. Instead, it is our hope that
you will take the essence of each of these examples and con-
sider a projective approach in relation to your own research
problems and then make suitable adaptations and produce
your own distinctive, idiosyncratic and quirky ways of gath-
ering information.
Furthermore, due to the limitations of space in this slim
volume, we have not offered an in-depth consideration of
the ways in which projective techniques may be used in con-
junction with other approaches for gathering data (although
we have briefly considered this to some extent in earlier
102 Conclusion
chapters). However, the ability for projectives to be used as
part of a multi-method research design is another feature that
recommends these approaches to the researcher as a multiple-
method design, by its very nature, may allow a more complete
picture to be developed of the research problem that is being
addressed. Furthermore, as noted in the preceding chapter,
over the past three decades, the world, and specifically the
world of research, has moved to the digital arena or online
(Hackett and Hayre, 2021). We have not considered this in
detail in this book, but many of projective approaches have
been adapted, or simply moved to be used on some sort of
electronic device. We have not focused upon such digital
ways of presenting projective techniques as the basic essence
of each technique remains the same regardless of the medium
through which it is presented to a participant. We have there-
fore concentrated on attempting to convey the thinking behind
a technique, and we believe that readers will be able to read-
ily use any digital version of an approach without general
instruction from us.

Conclusion
We close this book by simply wishing you good luck in using
projective techniques in your research, and we also hope you
enjoy a sense of satisfaction in your research.

Reference
Hackett, P.M.W., and Hayre, C.M. (2021). Conclusions and the
Future of Ethnography in Health-related Research. In P.M.W.
Hackett and C.M. Hayre (eds.), Handbook of Ethnography in
Healthcare Research (pp. 513–521). London: Routledge.
Reading List

Below we provide a list of books and articles that are related

to projective techniques, their background philosophy and
their applied usage. The list is intended to guide the reader
who is interested in broadening their knowledge in regard to
projective approaches.

Farzin, M., Fattahi, M., and Khareshi, F. (2020). Qualitative Mar-

keting Research: Projective Techniques with Picture Drawing.
London: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
Handler, L., and Thomas, A.D. (2014). Drawings in assessment and
psychotherapy: Research and application. Routledge/Taylor &
Francis Group.
Kolb, B. (2018). Marketing Research for the Tourism, Hospitality
and Events Industries.
Lambert, M. (2019). Practical Research Methods in Education: An
Early Researcher’s Critical Guide.
Lindsey, G., Elliot, R.M., and Maccorquodale, K. (2012). Projective
Techniques and Cross-Cultural Research. The Century Psychol-
ogy Series, Literary Licensing LLC.
Lobinger, K., and Brantner, C. (2020). Picture-sorting Techniques. Card
Sorting and Q-sort as Alternative and Complementary Approaches
in Visual Social Research. In L. Pauwels and D. Mannay (eds.),
The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods. The Sage.
Maison, D. (2019). Qualitative Marketing Research: Understanding
Consumer Behaviour.
McNabb, D.E. (2010). Research Methods for Political Science:
Quantitative and Qualitative Methods.
104 Reading List
Murstein, B.I. (1963). Theory and Research in Projective Tech-
niques. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Pauwels, L., and Mannay, D. (2020). Handbook of Visual Research
Methods (2nd revised and expanded edition) (pp. 309–321). Lon-
don: Sage.
Soley, L., and Smith, A.L. (2008). Projective Techniques for Social
Science and Business Research. Palo Alto, CA: The Southshore
Press.
Stevens, R.E., Loudon, D.L., Ruddick, M.E., Wrenn, B., and
Sherwood, P.K. (2006). The Marketing Research Guide.
Tuber, S. (2018). Using Projective Methods With Children: The
Selected Works of Steve Tuber.
Winston, W., and Percy, L. (1997). Marketing Research That Pays
Off: Case Histories of Marketing Research Leading to Success in
the Marketplace.
Glossary

In this book, we use a series of words, phrases and terms that

may have specific or nuanced meanings within the research
context. For example, this is especially the case regarding the
terms that are used to describe research tools and procedures
that we use in this book. Below is a list of the precise meaning
of these words and phrases along with further details of the
terms and appropriate references. Many of the definitions are
taken from Hackett (2019).

Affect (emotion)
Affect is the experience of a feeling or an emotion. These may
be simple or complex and may be normal or pathologi-
cal. Mood and emotions are affective states, which may
be positive or negative. Traditionally, affect, conation and
cognition are the three components of the mind (Ameri-
can Psychological Association, 2022).
Attitudes
From a psychological perspective, and from the perspective
we adopt in this book, attitudes are either thought of a
two- or three-componential psychological phenomena.
If one takes a three-component perspective on attitudes,
the three parts are: affect – how we feel about something;
behaviour – what we do about something; and cognitive –
what we think about something. The three-part model of
attitudes (known as the ABC model) enables the inves-
tigation of an individual’s orientation towards some
106 Glossary
thing or event. The relative power of influence of each
of these three components will vary from one situation
to another. For example, when we decide to skip going
to work and have the day on the beach, it is probably
affect that is in command. However, when we decide to
not buy an expensive car that we like, it is probably cog-
nition winning over affect. Finally, if we buy the same
order from a coffee shop every day, it may be behaviour
that is in the commanding position. However, it should
be noted that over recent decades, the ABC model has
been recast as the two-part AC model. This is because
research would suggest that behaviour is a separate phe-
nomenon to attitudes. By adopting a two-part under-
standing, it is possible to investigate the relationships
between how people think and feel about something and
how they behave in this regard. However, others may
argue that this investigation is also possible within the
three-part model.
Category
A category is a class or some other form of partitioning or
breaking up of things or people on the basis of these hav-
ing some shared characteristic. In philosophy, categories
are usually thought of as “a system of categories is a com-
plete list of highest kinds or genera” (Thomasson, 2018)
or as an exhaustive set of classes within which everything
may be allocated.
Clause
Traditionally, a clause is said to consist of a subject and
predicate. It is a unit of grammatical organisation
ordered directly below the sentence. It is the smallest
unit in grammar that is able to express complete ideas.
A clause may constitute a complete sentence in and of
itself or it may be part of a sentence. A main clause is a
clause that is able to stand alone and forms a complete
sentence as it has a subject and predicate. A subordi-
nate clause is dependent upon a main clause and is a
part of this main clause and is usually preceded by a
conjunction.
 Glossary 107
Cognition/Cognitive
Cognition and cognitive refer in some to way to the mental
action of thinking and knowing. The American Psycho-
logical Association (2018) defines cognition to include
awareness and knowing including “perceiving, conceiv-
ing, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and
problem solving”. Furthermore, the American Psycho-
logical Association states that traditionally, the compo-
nents of the mind are cognition, affect and conation.
Cognitive maps
Cognitive maps are a form of psychological depiction or
portrayal of a spatial environment. Cognitive maps were
first put forward by Tolman (1948). Cognitive maps
allow a person to navigate in space, develop spatial cod-
ing, fix the location of landmarks and plan spatial routes.
In cognitive maps, a person develops a coherent repre-
sentation of their spatial environment which involves
the acquisition and coding storing of spatial details
which are later recalled and decoded and used, along
with memory inform and guide future action in regard
to the locations and attributes of everyday phenomena
and events in metaphorical and physical spatial envi-
ronments. Non-human animal research has suggested
that spatial abilities may be located in the hippocampus
and related regions. Cognitive maps are representations
in neural cells that code place, borders, head direction
and borders. In human animals, the hippocampus and
entorhinal cortex have been found to maintain spa-
tial codes that are similar to maps, whilst the parahip-
pocampus and retrosplenial cortices allow for the fixing
of cognitive maps of environmental landmarks, whilst
route planning is associated with the hippocampal and
entorhinal spatial regions (Epstein et al., 2017).
Construct
Within this book, we have used the term “construct” in a
similar manner to the definition provided by the Ameri-
can Psychological Association (2018). Thus, we take a
construct to be an exploratory theoretical model that is
108 Glossary
based upon empirical research or as a hypothetical model
arrived at through inference from empirical data.
Content analysis
Content analysis is the rigorous and systematic analysis of
narratives or other forms of non-numerical research. It
attempts to identify and describe the underlying or latent
content of the texts analysed.
Content domain or content area
It refers to the area that a piece of research addresses (this is
clearly specified in the mapping sentence – see below).
Critical approaches to research (critical theory)
Critical research approaches are associated with the evaluative
social science research that originated in the neo-Marxist
Frankfurt School. Critical approaches intend to be criti-
cal rather than simply analysing data that arises out of
research. Critical approaches typically take a stance that
is counter to orthodox political doctrine with the intention
of putting forward and advancing ideas and setting free
individuals and groups of people by revealing ideas and
practices by individuals and social systems.
Critical race theory
Critical race theory originated in the US and has been defined
as a political/intellectual faction and structure that devel-
oped within legal analysis. There are many variations
amongst critical race theorists as to the precise definitions
of race and racism, but there is a series of generally agreed
tenets. These tenets are: race is not biological and natural
but a social construct; US racism in the normal state and
the US is normal and has been invented as a category
intended to oppress people of colour and thus the laws
and its institutions are racist and a variety of inequalities
between white and people of colour; because of interest
convergence, any changes in the status of people of col-
our will likely be of benefit to dominant white people;
minority groups will experience differential racialisation
through being associated with different sets of negative
stereotypes; individuals can only be appropriately identi-
fied through their membership of multiple groups; people
 Glossary 109
of colour are in the unique position to be able to speak on
behalf of other people of colour regarding racism and its
effects (also see critical approaches to research).
Data
It refers to the Information that is collected through research
procedures (such as questionnaires, interviews, observa-
tions, etc.). Data can be qualitative or quantitative.
Data analysis
After data has been collected, it is analysed in order to attempt
to answer the questions posed and addressed by the
research. Theses analyses involve the processes by which
data is organised so as to provide insights into regularities
and differences in the behaviours of those people who are
participating in the research. Data analysis can refer to
many specific forms of analyses, for example, thematic
analysis, content analysis and statistical analysis.
Data collection
Data collection is the gathering and recording of information
through research methods such as interviews, observa-
tions and projective techniques.
Declarative mapping approach
The declarative mapping approach is an orientation within
humanities and social sciences research. The approach has
at its core the declarative mapping sentence (see below)
which offers a clear description of the componential nature
of a complex research domain (Gordley-Smith and Hackett,
2022). Research that is conducted within the declara-
tive mapping approach is concerned with investigating
a research domain by identifying the sub-components of
the domain and using the declarative mapping sentence to
investigate the interplay between these.
Declarative mapping sentence (DMS)
A declarative mapping sentence is an adapted form of a tra-
ditional mapping sentence (see Mapping sentence [in a
general sense] later in this glossary). It has been devel-
oped by Paul Hackett (Hackett, 2014, 2016a, 2016b,
2016c, 2018) and is similar to its traditional counterpart
except that it often does not include a range facet (it is
110 Glossary
traditionally the case that research designed within the
facet theory rubric has a range facet that is specified prior
to data collection). The declarative mapping sentence is
usually used in qualitative and philosophical research.
Element
See Facet element.
Emic
The term emic relates to research that involves the “analysis of
cultural phenomena from the perspective of one who par-
ticipates in the culture being studied” (Merriam-Webster,
2022b).
Etic
Etic is a term that refers to the manner in which research is con-
ducted where the research relates to involves “analysis of
cultural phenomena from the perspective of one who does
not participate in the culture being studied” (Merriam-
Webster, 2022a). This contrasts to emic approaches.
Experiment
An experiment is a specific type of research study that is char-
acterised by the manner in which it is designed. For a
research study to be an experiment, it must be designed so
as it has at least one independent variable and at least one
dependent variable. An independent variable is a variable
that is manipulated by the researcher in the experiment,
and a dependent variable is a variable that changes its
condition as a result of the manipulation of the independ-
ent variable. In order to be a true experiment, the study’s
design must also allow for the removal or control of extra-
neous variables or influences that may have an effect upon
the state of the dependent variable (these may be other var-
iables that are related to the independent variable or situ-
ational or background characteristics of the experimental
setting or the person conducting the experiment). A true
experiment must also have a control group which is made
up of members that are similar to the sample group who
are completing experiment, but instead of being presented
with the independent variable, they receive some benign
intervention that is similar to the independent variable.
Experiments are nearly always associated with quantitative
 Glossary 111
research. Experiments contrast with other forms of data
gathering such as surveys, case studies and interviews, by
being more rigorously controlled procedures.
Facet (a)
A facet can be thought of as a variable, construct or some other
form of discretely identifiable component of a definition of
a domain of research or important factor influencing a con-
tent that is under investigation. The facets that are speci-
fied for a research study, when taken together, constitute all
of the variables that are of interest in the study. Facets are
specified that are as much as possible mutually exclusive in
terms of their combined influence within the research area.
Facet element
A facet element (or often just element) is a subdivision of a
facet that is mutually exclusive with other elements of
a facet, as near as possible to being mutually exclusive.
Facet elements are not the means by which a mapping
sentence is assessed but they constitute the structure of
the phenomenon under scrutiny. Elements should not be
confused with a facet range (however, a range facet will
also possess elements).
Facet theory
Facet theory is a meta-theoretical approach to research design,
implementation and analysis (Brown, 1985; Canter, 1985;
Guttman, 1944; Hackett, 1983, 1995, 2014; Hildebrandt,
1986). Facet theory allows the mapping of some facet of
an individual or group of people in reference to a process
within a specified context. It achieves this through using
a mapping sentence (facet theory’s main research tool)
the approach brings together a prescribed analysis of a
research domain’s contents with analytic approaches such
as Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) (Lingoes and Borg,
1977) and Partial Order Scalogram Analysis (POSA)
(Raveh and Landau, 1993): these analyses are multidimen-
sional (Amar and Levy, 2014; Borg and Lingoes, 1987;
Borg and Mohler, 2011). Facet theory integrates the design
of research content with data analysis, which allows for a
meaningful appraisal of a research domain and permits the
possibility of theory development (see Brown, 2010).
112 Glossary
Facet theory (qualitative)
I have developed the qualitative application of the facet
theory approach to the study of human and non-human
animal behaviour and experience over the past decade
(Hackett, 2014, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c, 2018; St. Clair and
Hackett, 2012). In this adaptation of the traditional facet
theory orientation to research, I have moved away from
the design of research and analysis of research findings
that are numerical. Qualitative facet theory is therefore a
structural template that facilitates the design and develop-
ment of clearly and thoroughly specified research content.
Qualitative facet theory then offers a framework for the
analysis of narrative and other forms of thematic content
analysis. Qualitative facet theory employs the declarative
mapping sentence to allow the above claims to be realised.
Factors (factor analysis)
Martin and Bateson (2007) describe factor analysis as a sta-
tistical analysis method for uncovering groupings in
data, where the main form of factor analysis is principal
components analysis. The same authors state that factor
analysis, “aim(s) to reduce the complex interrelationships
between a large number of variables down to a smaller
number of underlying factors that account for a large pro-
portion of variance and covariance of the original vari-
ables” (Martin and Bateson, 2007, p. 116). Factors are
components of the results that emerge from factor analysis
(see Rencher and Christensen, 2012), which is a paramet-
ric graphical statistical analysis technique. The principal
components analysis technique identifies a successive
series of components, each of which explains a progres-
sively smaller amount of the total amount of variation in
the data set. There are two major forms of factor analysis:
confirmatory (Brown, 2015) and exploratory (Fabrigar
and Wegener, 2011). In the former, the approach is used
to investigate a pre-existing or hypothesised factor struc-
ture that exists in the literature, whilst in the latter, there
is no expected structure and the researcher explores pos-
sible structures based upon the data being analysed in the
 Glossary 113
current study. Factor analysis and principal component
analysis are similar to Smallestspace analysis. However,
Factor analysis and principal components analysis are
parametric statistical analysis techniques with factors that
are produced through linear regression. Smallestspace
analysis is an ordinal technique that yields non-linear
facets which are the product of analysis of the inter-item
similarities between the rankings of items.
Louis Guttman
Louis Guttman (1916–1987) was an American mathemati-
cian, sociologist and professor of social and psychologi-
cal assessment. He is best known for his scholarship in
the area of social statistics, for psychometric work (espe-
cially multidimensional scaling and his philosophical
work on multidimensional analysis approaches), for the
origination of the Guttman Scale and for the development
of facet theory.
Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics is a branch of knowledge that is concerned with
the content of narratives or texts. Specifically, hermeneu-
tics is concerned with the interpretation of such texts and
most commonly in the context of theological or literary
texts.
Insight
Insight is a form of behaviour and learning found in animals.
Animal insight grew out of the work of Wolfgang Köhler
(1925) (see also, Mackintosh, 2015, for a review of this
research; Chance, 1960). Insight learning studies are in
opposition (or complementary to) associative learning
and stimulus-response links (Mackintosh, 2015). Insight
is indicated in an action that is based on a novel appraisal
of a situation that results in behaviour that solves a prob-
lem. Insight has been investigated in bird behaviour, for
example in pigeons, in a replication of Köhler’s studies
with chimpanzees (Epstein et al., 1984) and in other bird
species (Emery and Clayton, 2004). Insight, in a more
general sense, is the capacity to attain a deep and accurate
understanding of an event, a phenomenon and so forth.
114 Glossary
Information
A quality or quantity that resolves uncertainty (see Data).
Intelligence
There are different definitions of intelligence, but most involve
notions of an individual’s ability to develop and employ
knowledge and skills.
Learning
Learning is demonstrated as a relatively permanent change
in behaviour that is brought about due to experience.
Learning is a major component or type of cognition and
is often assessed in research into the cognitive abilities of
individuals.
Linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific and systematically investigation
of language through the use of a scientific method in the
analysis of the form and structure of language, the mean-
ing of language and language in the situation of its usage.
Linguistics is also concerned with grammar, meaning and
the sounds of a language.
Mapping sentence (in a general sense)
A mapping sentence is a formal statement of the research
project that is being conducted in the format of a natu-
ral language sentence (see Hackett, 2014, 2018). A map-
ping sentence has three types of facets (more on these
later), each linked with other using connecting words
to form a sentence with a structure that approximates
normal prose. The sentence suggests the expected inter-
relationship between the content facets within the context
of the specified research inquiry. A mapping sentence
is made up of three types or categories of information
(these categories are called facets). The three types of
facets are the background facet, the content facet and
the range facet. Background facets specify detail of the
events, people or objects to be classified or investigated
in the research project. Background facets may also be
sub-divisions of the population under investigation that
you believe to be important in understanding the content
of the domain under enquiry. Content facets specify the
 Glossary 115
research domain that will be investigated in the project.
Content facets are the major subdivisions of research
content. For example: if your research project is investi-
gating user’s experience of a certain place, the facets will
be the major aspects of place experience that have been
identified in prior research to be influential in affecting
users when they are in that situation. The more complex
the investigation is the more content facets a project will
contain. The range facet[1] specifies the overall orientation
of the research project or is the measurement that will be
taken in the research (e.g. in assessing user’s experience
of a place, the range facet may well be one of degrees of
satisfaction with the various aspects of place as specified
in the content facet overall customer satisfaction).
At this point, it will probably be useful to readers’ under-
standing if we provide an example of a mapping sentence
(Figure G1).
Mapping sentence mereology
A mapping sentence is a sentence written in ordinary English
prose which contains facets and elements and where the

Person (x) student experiences classroom in terms facilitat-

being a: the: of this ing
envi-
university ron- hindering
ment:
lecturer

their: educa- objectives, primary to their greater extent

tional that they pur-
consider: poses
to a:

secondary to

social lesser

Figure G1 Traditional Mapping Sentence for Experience at University

116 Glossary
facets are the major components of a research domain
and the elements are the exhaustive, mutually exclusive
conditions of the facets. “Mapping sentence mereology”
is a term used in qualitative or philosophical facet theory
and with the declarative mapping sentence. Mapping sen-
tence mereology refers to the inter-connections and inter-
relationships between the facets and the facet elements
in a mapping sentence (usually declarative) including the
connective components and functors (Varzi, 2016).
Mapping sentence ontology
A mapping sentence is a sentence written in ordinary English
prose which contains facets and elements and where the
facets are the major components of a research domain
and the elements are the exhaustive, mutually exclusive
conditions of the facets. “Mapping sentence mereology”
is a term used in qualitative or philosophical facet theory
and with the declarative mapping sentence. Mapping
sentence ontology refers to the relationships and proper-
ties between the concepts and categories of a mapping
sentence (usually declarative) including the connective
components and functors.
Mapping sentence – declarative (see Declarative mapping
sentence)
Mapping sentence – traditional (see Mapping sentence [in a
general sense])
Mapping techniques
Mapping techniques are a broad class of approaches to quali-
tative research that are a type of projective technique.
They are also related to the concepts of cognitive map-
ping (e.g. see: Mira and Deus, 2005) and mental maps
(e.g. Buzan, 2006). All mapping techniques or proce-
dures involve the participant in the research to produce
some form of a map. In this context, the term “map” can
be understood as involving some form of spatial repre-
sentation of some place, thing, state of affairs or entity.
Depending on the focus of the research study, mapping
techniques may or may not involve a respondent map-
ping an actual geographic location. In these approaches
 Glossary 117
to data gathering, a respondent will be asked to draw a
map of some kind. The map itself may take many forms
but will usually be produced upon a large sheet of paper
on which the participant writes words or phrases in a spa-
tially significant way and then connects these with lines
to demonstrate the associations between the terms.
Mixed method research
Mixed method research, as its name suggests, is a method-
ology that employs a mixture of both quantitative and
qualitative methods in its design.
Multivariate behaviour research
Multivariate behaviour research is a form of enquiry that
takes a variety of variables into account when it attempts
to describe or infer the behaviour that is being investi-
gated. Multivariate behaviour research does not address
the effects of isolated independent variables upon
equally singular dependent variables. Rather, research is
designed and conducted to assess the effects of multiple
variables upon one or more other variables (see Hahs-
Vaughan, 2016; Coxon, 1982).
Online research
Online research is research that is conducted online. However,
this simple description misses much of the complexity
that exists in this type of research. Online social science
research may be divided into two broad classes or types
of research: research that is conducted into material that
exists online and material that exists outside of the digi-
tal arena but is investigated using online technology. For
instance, the former type of research may use information
that exists on social media and investigate this and the
latter may conduct a survey mounted and responded to
online. It is obvious that projective techniques take the
latter format. Many of the usual projective techniques are
now available to use online, such as: writing obituaries
for a specified thing or an event; a wide variety of map-
ping techniques can be created and manipulated in a digi-
tal medium, personification objectification and so forth
(Accelerant Research, 2022).
118 Glossary
Participant(s)
A participant (or participants) is the person (or persons) who
responds, provides information or in some way takes part
in a piece of research and whose information is analysed.
Personal construct theory
Personal construct theory is a personality and cognitive
processing theory developed by George Kelly (REF).
Personal construct theory (also personal construct
psychology) is rooted in the idea that an individual
understands their world through a series of evalua-
tive dimensions that they develop through experience
and which they carry around with them and apply in
their daily experiences and encounters. These dimen-
sions are termed “constructs” and are thought of,
and represented by, a straight line that runs from one
extreme of the construct to the opposite or contrasting
extreme of the construct. Constructs are employed by
an individual in all aspects of their lives and as they are
developed through life are highly personal and result
in individualised understanding of things, events, situ-
ations, other people and so forth (also see Repertory
grid technique).
Personality
How individuals differ is one area of research and scholarship
in psychology. Within this sub-domain, personality is one
of the branches of study. Personality is therefore a psy-
chological phenomenon that is a form of how individu-
als differ in terms of the typical ways in which they feel,
think and act. Personality may be thought of a relatively
enduring characteristic of an individual across different
situations. Research into personality tends to focus upon
two aspects of personality. The first of the main sub-areas
of personality is concerned with how a person’s personal-
ity characteristics come together as a functional whole.
The second attends to the study of the individual charac-
teristics of personality such as extraversion and extrover-
sion. Several multi-componential models of personality
have been developed.
 Glossary 119
Personality measures
Personality measures is a sub-area of psychometrics, which
itself is concerned with the quantitative or statistical
assessment of psychological processes, such as intelli-
gence and various forms of behaviour. As personality is
usually conceived as being made up of multiple relatively
independent interacting components, personality tests
and measures reflect this and often comprise multiple
scores each of which reflect a specific aspect of personal-
ity. As with many other psychometric tests, personality
tests are most often used in industrial and occupational
psychology and also in clinical and educational settings.
Perspective taking
Perspective taking involves behaving in a way that can only
be understood by assuming that the individual commit-
ting the behaviour is acknowledging/is aware of, a view-
point other than just their own. However, the distinction
between perspective taking and insight may be unclear.
Phrase
In language, a phrase is a small collection of words that form
a conceptual unit with an idiomatic meaning and which
usually are part of a clause.
Physical manipulation
This refers to the movement of objects, in order to achieve a
goal or to complete a test task (a goal in the construction
itself of using a construction for instrumental reasons to
attain a higher-level goal).
Physical construction
This refers to building, forming of objects to help achieve a
goal (a goal in the construction itself of using a construc-
tion for instrumental reasons to attain a higher level goal).
The psychometric question may be asked as to the suf-
ficiency of difference between physical manipulate tasks
and physical construct tasks.
Placescape
A placescape is defined as “a representation of land or sea or
city that emphasizes the locus and felt quality of place
(above all its shape and scope)” (Casey, 2002, p. 352).
120 Glossary
Processing speed
Is the time it takes for an individual to become aware, per-
ceive and choose an action. Processing speed involves/
includes the time taken by an individual to register a
stimulus and to process this by referencing this to their
extant schemata and attributing some sort of meaning to
that and deciding upon committing an executive action.
Projective technique(s)
In social science and other forms of research with human
subjects, the aim of an enquiry is often to increase under-
standing of a person’s, or a group of people’s thoughts
and feelings towards an event, a state of affairs, concepts,
social issues and some other topics. Researchers often
use direct approaches to attempt to provide such under-
standing, such as questionnaires and so forth. Projective
techniques are indirect methods that are typically used in
qualitative or mixed-methods research. Projective tech-
niques are indirect techniques that aim to facilitate or allow
researcher to uncover and reveal a person’s deep thoughts,
motivations, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and values.
Arguably, it is valuable to attempt to understand these often
effectual and irrational underlying psychological con-
structs (constructs which we may not be consciously
aware of and therefore not amenable to direct question-
ing) as it is frequently these that impel our more obvious
behaviours.
Because an individual may not have a clear understanding of
their motives and subconscious influences upon these,
projective techniques can be useful because they are tools
that help to reveal the subconscious can be emotional
and irrational in nature. Another advantage to be found
in using projective techniques comes about because a
person may experience difficulty in putting into words
their motivations and desires, even when they are aware
of these. Asking a direct question may produce useful
and valid information, but it is also prone to respondents
feigning good and offering socially or personally desir-
able answers to such enquiries. A person’s deeper values
 Glossary 121
and beliefs may be especially revealing of the person
being questioned and there may be perceptual guards that
prohibit such revelation. By actively involving a person
in the physical construction of their responses, projec-
tive techniques assist the researcher to break through
this resistance. Furthermore, projective techniques
can be employed alongside other qualitative research
approaches, such as direct questioning, and are very fre-
quently used within focus groups.
Psychoanalytic theory (psychoanalysis)
Sigmund Freud was the originator of the theory of personality
known as Psychoanalytic theory (REF). On the under-
standings present in psychoanalytic theory, personality
is seen to dynamically consist of three components, the
id, the ego and the super ego. The id is only present in
the subconscious of an individual., whilst the ego and
superego have conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious
components. According to Freud, the conscious is the
location of our thoughts and feelings, the pre-conscious
is also called the subconscious and is our memories and
representations of our past that we may recall, whilst the
unconscious is the deepest level of the mind and com-
prises such aspects as primitive and instinctual desires
and other drivers of our behaviour of which we are una-
ware (McCleod, 2014). The id is seen to comprise our
survival and destructive instincts, the ego develops in
childhood and keeps a check on the id whilst the super-
ego contains morality and social responsibility. We will
not go into more details as these are beyond the scope
of this book. However, psychoanalytic theory has been
developed as a therapeutic approach, and of particular
interest to this book, it has spawned the development of
a series of information-gathering approaches that, it is
believed, are able to tap into the subconscious and even
perhaps the unconscious parts of the mind.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is also known as non-numerical research.
The terms “qualitative” and “non-numerical” refer to the
122 Glossary
type of information (see definition earlier) that a research
procedure yields. This type of research typically pro-
duces text, observational or narrative data and cannot
be analysed statistically. Qualitative research typically
attempts to produce rich understanding of the research
context with findings that cannot be applied with confi-
dence outside of the sample being investigated.
Quantitative research
Quantitative research is also known as numerical or statisti-
cal research. The terms “quantitative”, “numerical” and
“statistical” refer to the type of information (see defini-
tion earlier) that a research procedure yields. Quantitative
research produces numerical data that may be analysed
statistically. This form of research may be generalised
outside of the sample used in the research with a specific
level of confidence regarding the robustness of such gen-
eralisations. Quantitative data and research are typically
not used to reveal respondents’ rich personal meanings.
Range facet
The range facet is found in traditional quantitative facet theory
(Borg, 1977). It specifies the range over which responses
will be gathered: It explicitly states the values that
responses will take. In all facet theory research, the range
facet focuses on the research that is being conducted by
specifying which information will be collected in order
to test the veracity of the mapping sentences structure
(Hackett, 2018).
Reliability
Reliability has a specific meaning in the context of research.
On this meaning, reliability means the consistency and
trustworthiness of a measure or assessment procedure.
Therefore, what is meant by reliability is the extent to
which a measure will produce the same result when it is
applied on multiple occasions or at different times to the
same sample.
Repertory grid
The repertory grid technique is a procedure for conducting
social science research. The repertory grid approach
 Glossary 123
gathers information from respondents in an interview-type
setting in a grid format. The repertory grid technique was
developed by George Kelly alongside personal construct
psychology which he also originated. The basic notion
behind personal construct psychology is that individu-
als understand the world around them through a series of
dimensions that they develop through experience. These
dimensions, or constructs, are linear and run one extreme
pole to its opposite or contrasting pole. A person uses
their individualised constructs to interpret things, events,
situations, other people and so on. The repertory grid is a
research procedure that enables a person to express how
they see and understand the world by revealing their per-
sonal constructs whilst minimising interviewers induced
biases. The repertory grid technique asks a person com-
pleting the construction of a grid about the similarities and
differences between events often through the use of tri-
adic sort procedures. The initial stages proceeds through
a series of typical stages. In the first stage, the researcher
chooses a series of what are called “elements” that are
deemed to be examples of the topic being investigated.
For example, the elements that would be included when
investigating preferences for specific cars would be a
variety of different cars thought to be representative of
the choices available to the respondent. The second stage
is the elicitation by the researcher of the personal con-
structs that relate to the differentiation of elements. In this
stage, an attempt is made to understand how the respond-
ent understands the content area of interest by asking the
participant to identify the differences and similarities
between elements, by using, for example, a triadic sort
method. In this way, the respondent identifies how ele-
ments are different and similar to each other and reports
these to the researcher. The procedure is repeated on dif-
ferent permutations of elements until no new constructs
emerge. In the third stage, the use of a grid is employed.
A grid is drawn with the names of the elements written
above each column and with the rows labelled with, at
124 Glossary
the one end of the row, the one pole of a construct, and
at the other end of the row, the contrasting pole’s name.
Respondents then rate each element in terms of writing
a value from a scale of say 1 to 7, under each element
column so that each row represents the extent of each
construct for each element. In this procedure, the value of
1 would mean the element is very much represented by
the left-hand pole of the construct, whilst a value of say
7, would mean the element is very much typified by the
construct name at the right-hand of the row. Multivariate
statistics are usually employed to analyse a grid’s content
(also see Personal construct theory).
Research
In the context of this book and within academia and pro-
fessional settings (we are speaking primarily within
the social science, business and humanities contexts),
research is the systematic investigation into and the study
of sources and events in the attempt to establish verifi-
able information in which confidence may be held. We
are using the term in a more exacting sense than it is
often used in everyday language to mean simply search-
ing Google, or local shops. This is often un-systematised
and non-stringent. Research is also more than simply ask-
ing questions. Research is the process of asking questions
and interrogating these systematically within a theoreti-
cal context in order to provide answers. Research is more
than questioning as it is rigorous and the procedure is
explicit and documented.
Research bias
It refers to the factors that influence and distort the results
that come out of a research study. Bias in research may
come from a wide variety of sources. For example: selec-
tion of an inappropriate sample; factors associated with
the locational or setting of the research; characteristics
of the interviewer; inconsistencies in research procedures
between different administrations of the research proce-
dure; inaccurate data keeping or measurement taking,
and so on. In statistics, bias refers to systematic errors
 Glossary 125
or deviations in results. These are not the only sources of
bias in research but serve to illustrate the breadth of the
sources of potential bias and the many ways in which this
may distort the findings of a research project.
Research design
Research design is more than simply the process of design-
ing research. Research design is a formal approach to
designing research that takes into account, and explic-
itly states, the relationships between variables and how
research questions and hypotheses relate to each other.
It also includes all of the features of a specific piece of
research, including those within the research procedure
itself and those external to the research process that may
have an impact on the research results. The term “research
design” means the strategy that a researcher uses in order
to investigate an area of interest. Research design there-
fore involves the bringing together of the different aspects
of a research study in a manner that effectively addresses
the questions that are being investigated. Logic is used
to achieve the above aims through the construction of a
research design template or plan for collecting data, ana-
lysing this and considering measurement and statistical
issues (see Abdi et al., 2009; Mitchell and Jolley, 2012;
Spector, 1981; Spickard, 2016).
Research domain
The term “research domain” is synonymous with the term
“research area”. Both terms signify the content area
addressed by a specific piece of research.
Respondent(s)
See Participant(s).
Sort techniques
Sorting procedures are valuable research techniques that seek
to uncover how individuals evaluate and categorise a wide
variety of stimulus items. Simply put, sorting (or sort)
procedures involve the presentation of stimulus materi-
als to a participant who is then asked to sort this material
into an arrangement (or arrangements) that are meaning-
ful to them. In this way, a sort technique attempts to use
126 Glossary
a visually based activity to reveal a participant’s mental
concepts or the psychological constructs that guide their
conscious and subconscious behaviours.
Sorting techniques can use a variety of different stimuli which
the participant is asked to sort. These are often presented
as cards with words printed on them, photographs or
other pictorial forms, actually objects and so on, and may
be physically presented or virtually presented on a tab-
let or other device. These techniques are all for eliciting
knowledge that does not require direct questions from
the researcher, although follow-up questions are often
employed which ask the respondent to say more about
the sort they have just completed.
In the procedure, items are presented to a participant and they
are asked to sort these in meaningful ways, such as sort-
ing these into groups and ranking items to identify order
relationships between them. The precise way in which
the sort is conducted will depend on the type of informa-
tion the researcher is attempting to reveal. Furthermore,
the researcher may ask the participant to sort the material
in a certain way (i.e. into a specified number of groups)
or ask them to impose their own sorting protocols that
reflect their understanding of the similarities and differ-
ences between the items.
Spatial ability
Spatial ability is evidenced in acting in a manner that suggests
that space and volume are understood.
Stage sequential/stage sequential reasoning
Acting stage sequentially involves undertaking requisite
tasks in the necessary order to enable the attainment or
achievement of a goal or outcome. Stage sequential rea-
soning is demonstrated in an individual’s behaviour when
the person links a series of novel actions together in order
to attain a goal.
Statistical analysis/research
Statistical research and analysis are approaches to inquiries
that are not typically found used in conjunction with pro-
jective techniques. This is due to statistical approaches
 Glossary 127
being concerned with numerical responses to direct ques-
tions, and projective technique research is qualitative
in terms of the data collected and deep understanding
is sought rather than number-based responses (Millsap
and Maydue-Olivares, 2009). Statistical methods and
statistical forms of analysis are of two broad classes:
descriptive (Jones and Goldring, 2022) and inferential
(Macinnes, 2022). The former of these uses numeri-
cal values to describe responses, events, characteristics
of an individual and so on. These include frequency
counts, averages, ranges of responses and other, and
these are sometimes used in conjunction with projective
approaches and the information they produce. The other
major form of statistical analysis is inferential and as the
name suggests, these statistics compare the numerical
data collected and are used to infer the numerical sig-
nificance of the similarities and differences between the
responses from groups of respondents. Inferential statis-
tics include t-tests, correlation tests, multi-dimensional
procedures and so on (Borg et al., 2018; Sabo and Boone,
2013; Meyers et al., 2010).
Subject(s)
See Participant.
Test battery
In psychological assessment, individuals are usually tested
using a variety of different, though related, tests. This is
the case in the assessment of intelligence and other skills
and abilities. Together, these tests are known as a test
battery.
Theory
The word theory has slightly different meanings, but in this
book, a theory is taken to be related to a set of ideas
which are used to explain other events or things. Theo-
ries often are general in their nature and are independent
to the events, states of affairs and so on, that they are
being employed to explain. In science, theories are often
used in the above sense in order to explain the natural
world in a manner that avails itself to investigation and
128 Glossary
verification, refutation or amendment through the process
of repeated investigation of the theory’s ability to provide
explanations of empirical observations.
Traditional mapping sentence
See Mapping Sentence in a General Sense.
Transference
Transference implicates the role of longer-term memory and
learning. Transference involves taking an experience
from one situation or task and applying it to another
situation in which the behaviour would not have been
observed and would not have been expected to elicit this
behaviour.
Validity
Validity refers to the instance when something is rooted in
truth, fact, supported by a law and so on. Perhaps of more
direct relevance to the present writing, validity means to
something that is supported by theoretical rationale or
empirical evidence. Moreover, validity implicates ade-
quacy and appropriateness in terms of any conclusion
that is derived from research or another form of assess-
ment (American Psychological Association, 2018).
Variables
Variables are components of experimental situations and
a part of the language used to talk about and describe
much quantitative research. Variables are events or other
entities that may be controlled, altered or measured in
an experiment. More specifically, in experiments, vari-
ables may take one of several types. Independent vari-
ables are the variables that are manipulated in the course
of an experiment. Dependent variables are the outcome
variables or the variables that alter due to the manipu-
lation of the independent variables. Controlled variables
are the variables that are held constant in an experiment
in order to remove their effects upon the dependent vari-
ables. Extraneous variables are the variables that have an
effect upon the dependent variables but are not taken into
account when considering the effects of the independent
 Glossary 129
variables. Extraneous variables are a source of error in an
experiment.
Visual comprehension
Visual comprehension requires an individual to act in a way
that demonstrates that they are able to perceive and act in
a manner that demonstrates visual recognition and action
based upon this visual recognition.
Visual spatial
In the context of this book, visual-spatial refers to a form
of intelligence. So conceived, visual-spatial tests are
usually concerned with the ability of an individual to
mentally manipulate objects in three dimensions or
to conceive two-dimensional representations in three
dimensions.
Word
A word may take two forms, a written or a spoken form. In the
former, it consists of one or more letters, and in the latter,
it comprises one or more sounds that symbolise and com-
municate a specific meaning. A word is the smallest writ-
ten or spoken component that can stand alone and express
an applied, a realistic or an objective meaning. The parts
of written words are graphemes, and the components of
spoken words are phonemes. However, the meaning of
words has been much debated (see Di Sciullo and Wil-
liams, 1987; Bromberger, 2011).
Working memory
Memory is conventionally divided into three components:
working memory; short-term memory and long-term
memory. Working memory takes the form of information
that is held in the conscious mind that enables one to act.
It is the most temporary form of memory. Traditionally,
working memory has been seen as being limited in its
capacity (usually to seven plus or minus items (Miller,
1956 REF), but more recently, working memory has been
posited as being a restricted and controlled resource that
is distributed across all of the items that are being kept in
memory (see Ma et al., 2014).
130 Glossary
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Index

analysis/analyse 16, 39, 40 – 51, construct 8 – 9, 35 – 36, 54, 60,

103 – 110 66 – 67, 69
approach(es) 1, 2, 8, 9, 13 – 15, critical 86
17 – 19, 23, 24, 26 – 29,
34, 37, 41, 42, 45, 50 – 53, data analysis 65
55 – 57, 61, 66 – 72, 74 – 85, data gathering 1, 6, 8, 22, 36,
88, 91, 92, 95, 98, 102 – 106, 74 – 76, 81, 100 – 101
108 – 114 declarative mapping approach i
2, 84 – 85, 88 – 90
behaviour(s) 1, 12, 23, 24, 28, declarative mapping sentence
37, 39, 41, 45, 60, 94 85, 89 – 93
billboards 56, 58, 59 descriptive diary 56, 59
brand analogies 55, 62 design 6 – 7, 46 – 61, 63 – 73,
brand and user imagery 65 79 – 92, 106 – 107, 113, 119
dial testing 56, 69
cartoons 56, 58 drawing 30, 35, 56, 65, 115
categorie(s) 21, 35, 39 – 47, 60,
102, 112 echo approach 56, 63
choice ordering 56, 67 element 92 – 93
cognition/cognitive 17, 24, 33, example 1, 9, 11, 12, 14, 24, 25,
49, 56 – 60, 69 32, 33, 35, 36, 42, 57 – 64,
collaging/collage 56, 64, 65 66, 69 – 71, 80, 81, 84 – 86,
concept(s) 20, 37, 39, 41, 42, 88, 90 – 92, 106, 108 – 109,
45, 52, 53, 57, 64 – 67, 69, 70, 111 – 114
72, 84, 85, 91, 92, 103, 105,
106, 110, 113, 114 facet element 92 – 93
conduct/conducting 19, 20, 24, facets 82 – 84
42, 53, 55, 77, 82 – 84, 88, factor analysis 51 – 52
90 – 92, 94 – 96, 109 family of brands 56, 61
136 Index
grand tour technique 56, 62 qualitative 13, 16, 19, 21,
guided imagery 56, 62 24 – 25, 27 – 29, 32, 36,
38 – 40, 43 – 45, 47 – 49,
individual(s) 13, 16, 18, 19, 26, 54 – 55, 60 – 61, 64, 68 – 70,
29, 32, 42, 43, 52, 61, 62, 67, 72 – 73, 81, 89, 94, 100
77, 80, 82, 88, 90, 91, 93, 97 qualitative research 13, 16, 21,
insight 17, 22, 26 – 29, 36, 40, 27, 28 – 29, 32, 36, 38 – 40,
50, 54 – 55, 68, 71, 74, 95 – 96 49, 60 – 61, 64, 68 – 70, 94
quantitative 9, 74, 76, 78,
laddering 56, 69 81 – 83, 85, 94, 99
language 57 – 61, 79 – 82
linguistic 60, 88, 97 ranking 56, 59, 68, 80
listing 56, 59 repertory grid technique 28, 56,
70, 71
mapping techniques i, 21 – 22, research approaches 7, 77, 91,
32 – 33, 36, 57, 88 – 89 116
methodology 1, 28, 40, 41, research bias 14, 24, 87 – 90
57, 61, 63, 66, 74, 87, 90, research design 13 – 14, 16, 21,
92 – 95, 99 24, 35, 41, 44, 51 – 52, 59, 61,
mind map(s) 11, 42, 67, 65, 70, 74 – 75, 77, 79 – 82,
107 – 115 88 – 90, 93 – 94, 101 – 102
mini tour technique 56, 63 research domain 17, 33, 65, 85,
moderator 26 – 28, 30, 32 – 33, 90 – 91
46 – 47 respondent(s) 16, 25, 28, 31,
36 – 42, 52, 53, 57, 58, 60, 61,
online research 95 – 95, 98 65, 68, 69, 72, 79 – 81, 83,
85, 90, 92 – 94, 98, 106, 108,
participant(s) 17, 18, 30 – 33, 35, 115, 116
37 – 42, 52 – 55, 57 – 69, 71, role playing 56, 62
72, 75 – 80, 82 – 85, 87 – 97,
99, 103, 105, 108, 109, sentence completion 33, 34,
112 – 116 54 – 56
personification 56, 60 – 62 social science 7 – 11, 27 – 28,
phrase 26 – 28, 48, 50, 61 – 66, 75 – 85
78, 85, 91, 93 sort techniques 1, 4, 6 – 8, 16,
procedures 1, 8, 15, 35, 37 – 44, 21, 33 – 49, 55 – 56, 78, 88, 95
52, 58, 60 – 61, 65, 68, 71, spatial 17, 22, 36, 48, 59
93 – 95 stimuli 16, 29 – 31, 37 – 41, 52,
projective techniques 1 – 18, 71, 72, 92 – 94
21 – 37, 38 – 43, 57, 61, story completion 56, 57
75 – 78, 81 – 90, 94 – 96 survivor island 56, 58
psychoanalysis 11
psychology 8, 13, 16, 18 – 19, talk balloons 56 – 58
20, 33, 35, 51, 69, 83 test battery 18
 Index 137
thematic apperception test vignettes 56, 64
29, 56 visual props 56, 65
theory 14 – 15, 4, 7 – 8, 49, 55, 86
timescape 56, 61 word(s) 9 – 10, 15, 17, 23 – 28,
tradeoff 56, 69 30 – 31, 33, 39, 41, 43, 46, 48,
transference 93 50, 60 – 64, 66, 70, 78 – 79, 93
triadic 68, 74, 83, 84, 91, 92 word association 30, 56, 60