What are the merits and demerits of projective personality tests?

Advantages of Projective Tests: Some people may feel more comfortable talking in an unstructured situation than they would if they were required to participate in a structured interview or to complete the lengthy MMPI. Projective tests can provide an interesting source of information regarding the person’s unique view of the world, and they can be a useful supplement to information obtained with other assessment tools. To whatever extent a person’s relationships with other people are governed by unconscious cognitive and emotional events, projective tests may provide information that cannot be obtained through direct interviewing methods or observational procedures. Limitations of Projective Tests: Lack of standardization in administration and scoring is a serious problem. Little information is available on which to base comparisons to normal adults or children. Some projective procedures, such as the Rorschach, can be very time-consuming. The reliability of scoring and interpretation tends to be low.