Convergence between Rorschach and self‐report: A new look at some old questions

Abstract

Objective This study presents an examination of the influence of response format on convergence between performance‐based and self‐report assessments of similar mental health constructs, to determine if such method variance might account for prior findings of lack of relationship. Methods An online sample of 455 participants (57% male; average age, 35.5) completed a multiple‐choice version of the Rorschach and two self‐report instruments, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) representation of the domain traits of the five‐factor model (FFM). Results Several significant interrelationships emerged between the Rorschach Amplified Multiple Choice Test and the PAI and IPIP five‐factor scales. Conclusions These findings suggest that the Rorschach can correlate meaningfully with similar constructs assessed using self‐report methodology when comparable response formats are utilized.

Convergence between Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and self‐report: Another look at some old questions

“…In an exploratory study of this hypothesis, Morey and McCredie () investigated correlations between a multiple‐choice adaptation of the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Amplified Multiple Choice Test (Harrower & Steiner, ), and two self‐report instruments: the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, ), a multiscale measure of personality and psychopathology, and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) Representation of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (IPIP‐NEO‐50), a measure of the five broad personality domains. Contrary to previous findings regarding poor convergence between the Rorschach and self‐report instruments such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (e.g., Archer & Krishnamurthy, ), hypothesized interrelationships of considerable magnitude were observed.…”

“…As explored using a multiple‐choice adaptation of the Rorschach (Morey & McCredie, ), another possible explanation for the inconsistent convergence between the TAT and self‐report is the method variance associated with the different response format of these measures, with the fixed nature of self‐report response options contrasting with the open‐ended nature of TAT narrative responses. As in the case of the Amplified Multiple Choice Test (Harrower & Steiner, ), there has also been a history of efforts to develop structured scoring protocols to accompany the TAT and related measures (Holmstrom, Silber, & Karp, ; Hurley, ; Johnston, ; Schultheiss, Yankova, Dirlikov, & Schad, ), and the use of these adapted approaches may serve to control some of the method variance precluding heteromethod convergence.…”

“…The interrelationships observed between the Amplified Multiple Choice Test version of the Rorschach and the PAI and IPIP‐NEO‐50 (Morey & McCredie, ) offer preliminary evidence to suggest that method variance may be an important impeding factor in the convergence of performance‐based and self‐report methodologies. Thus, the possibility that a structured scoring system of the TAT may produce similarly sized correlations in relation to contemporary self‐report assessment approaches warrants further exploration.…”

“…As explored using a multiple-choice adaptation of the Rorschach (Morey & McCredie, 2018), another possible explanation for the inconsistent convergence between the TAT and self-report is the method variance associated with the different response format of these measures, with the fixed nature of self-report response options…”

“…However, despite utilizing a structured approach to TAT scoring, some reports continued to demonstrate poor convergence between the IPIT scoring categories and similar constructs assessed via self-report (Barnette, 1961;Goodstein, 1954), and the measure demonstrated questionable internal consistency (Hurley, 1955). In an effort to improve upon the reliability of the IPIT, Johnston (1957) increased the length from 10 to 24 TAT cards and removed response options that were either extremely popular or unpopular among participants, resulting in a revised version demonstrating modest improvements in split-half internal consistency The interrelationships observed between the Amplified Multiple Choice Test version of the Rorschach and the PAI and IPIP-NEO-50 (Morey & McCredie, 2018) offer preliminary evidence to suggest that method variance may be an important impeding factor in the convergence of performance-based and self-report methodologies.…”