The Rorschach Test
was used a lot in the 1950's and 1960's.
A series of 10 ink blot images were presented as a psychological test and based on what you made of them, the psychologist made all sorts of decisions and diagnoses about you. It has long been a test with identified methodological flaws but that said, I wondered if I made 10 of my own ink blot shapes, with the black ink and the left over gold paint of my last experiment, would they have anything to teach me?
To mirror the recycled nature of a disregarded experiment, I used the thrown away brown paper wrappings that some of my Christmas gifts had been wrapped in.
What would be my own definition of my ink blots and how might this compare with Rorschach? A frightening thought!
The social history of the test in itself is a lesson in the nature of trends within research methodology. Here we have a test that was a stalwart in the briefcase of the psychologist, a scientist. And yet, research and further work has reputed the reliability and validity of such a test, so that now it is not used in the same way. We can not easily quantify the responses to the test.
And this is a consideration for my own research methodology as it will be one that is rigorously questioned , particularly as I will be working in auto- ethnographics & story.
As an Artist working across genres, what conclusions can my own story make and can those conclusions be applied to widen an existing body of knowledge? Can my story really make a contribution to the world of academia?
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