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Last updated on January 10, 2024

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Everything about Projective Questions

Estimated reading: 3 minutes

In this post, we explain everything you need to know about projective control questions.

What are projective control questions?

Projective questions can be integrated into the questionnaire for quality assurance purposes. A projective question is an estimation of the answer distribution of other people, according to a previously answered question.

Projective questions form the basis for being able to conduct psychological quality checks in surveys for the first time.

A projective question set is constructed as follows:

    • 1) Basic question (single choice)
      • A1
      • A2
      • A3
    • 2) Projective question (estimation)
      • _% A1
      • _% A2
      • _% A3
  • Respondents must provide a complete indication/estimate of the response distribution as a percentage (total 100%). When programming the questionnaire, make sure that the total must add up to 100%.
  • The projections are a rough estimate of the response distribution in the surveyed target group.
  • The projection of the answer distribution must be related to only 1 basic question. The projective question is thus to be seen as a supplementary question.
  • Projective questions can either be attached to existing questions in the questionnaire, or predefined question sets (basic question+projective question) can be used.

Scientific background

The concept of projective control questions originates from over 15 years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), under the direction of Prof. Drazen Prelec. The results have also been published in various scientific publications.

Example of a projective question set

Basic question
No matter who I talk to, I am always a good listener.

  • Yes
  • No

Projective question
How do you think other people around you feel about this? Please indicate the distribution in percent (%).

  • _60_% Yes
  • _40_% No

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • How many projective questions should be added to a questionnaire?
    We recommend, depending on the questionnaire length, to integrate 2-3 projective questions into a questionnaire.
    For example, one possibility is - 1 question at the beginning, 1 question in the middle and 1 question at the end of the survey.
  • Can ReDem® be used without projective questions?
    Yes, projective questions are not mandatory. Nevertheless, we recommend including projective questions in questionnaires whenever possible.
  • To WHOM or WHAT must the projective question refer?
    The projection should refer to a clearly defined target group, such as the Austrian or German population. 
    This ensures that all respondents in your projection, refer to the same population. 
    Important: The projection should not refer to the respondent's own environment.
  • What is important when "attaching" the projective questions to existing questions in the questionnaire?
    It must be a closed single-choice question. Do not use demographic queries as the basic question. Ideally, attach the projective item to questions of special interest (for political surveys, use the "Sunday question", for example).
  • How many answer options may a projective question set have?
    Generally, a projective question set can have any number of answer options.
    However, the more answer options a question has, the more difficult it becomes for respondents to make an estimate about the distribution of other answers.
    Recommendation: Limit the answer options to a maximum of 6.

If you have any further questions about projective controll questions, please contact us at business@redem.io

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