Story completion projective technique

Aims of study

Sample text here

Story completion

- is a projective technique, when respondents are given part of a story – enough to direct attention to a particular topic but not to hint at the ending. They are required to give the conclusion in their own words.

There were 2 women and 2 men (50% vs. 50%).

Ages ranged from 21 to 52 (mean age = 39).

Middle or high socio-economic situation.

Actively participate in the food buying decision of the household.

Participants

Marat is standing before the counter with milk in the supermarket. He is confused by the variety of choice. His friend comes up. He has a packet of milk in his hands. Marat asks for his friend’s advice. His friend shows him a packet of milk with Omega 3. Marat doesn’t know what Omega 3 is but his friend recommends him to try. Marat begins to read attentively the description on the label….

Story to complete…

…It is a description of the usefulness of Omega 3. The main thing is that Omega 3 is not produced by the human being’s body. He becomes aware of the importance and necessity of products which contain Omega 3. Therefore he buys milk with Omega 3.

… After reading the description, he doesn’t understand anything. Then he asks a shop assistant for an advice. The shop assistant recommends to buy milk which is bought by most shoppers. The price of the milk is neither cheap nor expensive. Finally, he doesn’t buy Omega 3 milk.

…He comes to the conclusion that Omega 3 is not useful for health and he decides to buy other milk. His friend doesn’t try to persuade him.

… After reading the description, he gets interested in benefits of Omega 3 for health. He also checks the date on the packet. His decision is to buy Omega 3 milk.

Findings:

Helps to obtain more accurate and credible information avoiding socially acceptable and standard answers;

Helps to address personal, sensitive issues;

Helps to reveal motivations, beliefs, and attitudes at a subconscious level.

Advantages of story completion:

The complexity of collected data may lead to an important degree of subjectivity in data interpretation;

The findings of the study can not be generalized to all population;

Technique tends to be expensive and time consuming.

Disadvantages of story completion:

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