Regardless of the label, the Rorschach provides a standard set of inkblot stimuli that are used with children, adolescents, and adults in a wide range of settings where questions of personality and problem solving are relevant, including psychiatric, medical, criminal, or legal settings, as well as when assessing normal personality functioning. Using the Comprehensive System’s guidelines for standardized administration and scoring, normative reference data are available for children, adolescents, and adults. On average it takes about an hour and a half to administer and score the test. During administration the examiner sits next to the test taker, presents the cards sequentially, saying, “What might this be?” and then records all responses verbatim. On average people give about twenty-two or twenty-three responses, and a minimum of 14 is required. To facilitate accurate scoring, the examiner reviews each response a second time and strives to see it through the test taker’s eyes by clarifying the content of what is seen, where it is located in the inkblot, and the perceptual features of the ink that contribute to the response. Each response is then coded on dimensions that include location (e.g., the whole inkblot versus an unusual detail), developmental quality (e.g., vague versus defined object), determinants (e.g., movement, colour, shading), form quality (e.g., how typical it is to see an object in a particular location based on an extensive table derived from more than 200,000 responses), content (e.g., human, landscape), organizational synthesis, and a series of special coding categories, many of which indicate disruptions in logic and thought processes. The codes are then summed across all responses to form what is known as the structural summary, which contains about seventy ratios, percentages, and derived scores that are considered important for interpretation. In addition to formal scores, Rorschach interpretation is also based on behaviours expressed during the testing, patterns of scores across responses, unique or consistent themes in the responses, and unique or idiosyncratic perceptions.
Unlike interview-based measures or self-report questionnaires, the Rorschach does not have people describe what they are like but has them show what they are like via the sample of behaviour provided in each response. By relying on an actual sample of behaviour collected under standardized conditions rather than a self-description, the Rorschach can provide information about personality that may reside outside of a person’s conscious awareness.
The test was criticized extensively during the 1950s and 1960s for its lack of standardized procedures, scoring methods, and norms.
Before 1970, there were as many as five scoring systems that differed so dramatically that they essentially represented five different versions of the test. In 1973, John Exner published a comprehensive new scoring system that combined the strongest elements of the earlier systems. The Exner scoring system is now the standard approach used in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the Rorschach test.
From MPC-003 Personality: Theories and Assessment – IGNOU
Regardless of the label, the Rorschach provides a standard set of inkblot stimuli that are used with children, adolescents, and adults in a wide range of settings where questions of personality and problem solving are relevant, including psychiatric, medical, criminal, or legal settings, as well as when assessing normal personality functioning. Using the Comprehensive System’s guidelines for standardized administration and scoring, normative reference data are available for children, adolescents, and adults. On average it takes about an hour and a half to administer and score the test. During administration the examiner sits next to the test taker, presents the cards sequentially, saying, “What might this be?” and then records all responses verbatim. On average people give about twenty-two or twenty-three responses, and a minimum of 14 is required. To facilitate accurate scoring, the examiner reviews each response a second time and strives to see it through the test taker’s eyes by clarifying the content of what is seen, where it is located in the inkblot, and the perceptual features of the ink that contribute to the response. Each response is then coded on dimensions that include location (e.g., the whole inkblot versus an unusual detail), developmental quality (e.g., vague versus defined object), determinants (e.g., movement, colour, shading), form quality (e.g., how typical it is to see an object in a particular location based on an extensive table derived from more than 200,000 responses), content (e.g., human, landscape), organizational synthesis, and a series of special coding categories, many of which indicate disruptions in logic and thought processes. The codes are then summed across all responses to form what is known as the structural summary, which contains about seventy ratios, percentages, and derived scores that are considered important for interpretation. In addition to formal scores, Rorschach interpretation is also based on behaviours expressed during the testing, patterns of scores across responses, unique or consistent themes in the responses, and unique or idiosyncratic perceptions.
Unlike interview-based measures or self-report questionnaires, the Rorschach does not have people describe what they are like but has them show what they are like via the sample of behaviour provided in each response. By relying on an actual sample of behaviour collected under standardized conditions rather than a self-description, the Rorschach can provide information about personality that may reside outside of a person’s conscious awareness.
The test was criticized extensively during the 1950s and 1960s for its lack of standardized procedures, scoring methods, and norms.
Before 1970, there were as many as five scoring systems that differed so dramatically that they essentially represented five different versions of the test. In 1973, John Exner published a comprehensive new scoring system that combined the strongest elements of the earlier systems. The Exner scoring system is now the standard approach used in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the Rorschach test.
From MPC-003 Personality: Theories and Assessment – IGNOU