Objective versus Projective Measurement of Need for Achievement

Significance of Measuring Techniques

To find connections between entrepreneurial activity and a personal characteristic such as need for achievement puts demands on the methods of measurement. Two paradigms for measuring techniques have been of significance in the development of test instruments. The impressionistic school promotes the use of projective tests, while the psychometric school uses objective tests, that is questionnaires. They are objective in the sense that determination of points is done in advance with an elaborated guide and is not dependent on the interpretation of a person. When using a projective test the subject under investigation gives their expression of standardized, unstructured material, the expression is then interpreted by the experimenter.

The importance of the achievement motive for economic development has been shown[1, 2, 3]. Even if some questions have been raised about the relationship between achievement and economic growth[4, 5], the connection seems well established[6, 7]. That founders of businesses have a higher level of need for achievement, and the significance of need for achievement, as a factor for business prosperity, has been demonstrated.

To find connections between entrepreneurial activity and a personal characteristic such as need for achievement puts demands on the methods of measurement. Two paradigms for measuring techniques have been of significance in the development of test instruments. The impressionistic school promotes the use of projective tests, while the psychometric school uses objective tests, that is questionnaires[12]. They are objective in the sense that determination of points is done in advance with an elaborated guide and is not dependent on the interpretation of a person. When using a projective test the subject under investigation gives their expression of standardized, unstructured material, the expression is then interpreted by the experimenter.