projective technique
any assessment procedure that consists of a series of relatively ambiguous stimuli designed to elicit unique, sometimes highly idiosyncratic, responses that reflect the personality, cognitive style, and other psychological characteristics of the respondent. Examples of this type of procedure are the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test, as well as sentence-completion, word-association, and drawing tests. The use of projective techniques has generated considerable discussion among researchers, with opinions ranging from the expressed belief that personality assessment is incomplete without data from at least one or more of these procedures to the assertion that such techniques lack important psychometric features such as reliability and validity. Also called projective method.