A typical Projective Differential administration has three essential components and two optional components.

The essential components are:

• a PD stimuls set
• PD topics
• PD choices

The optional components are:

• picture naming
• L-Mode ratings

Once the PD Choices and any additional information (i.e., Picture Naming, L-Mode) in a given administration have been acquired, there are several ways to interpret the PD Choice results through various scoring alternatives. Which types of scores and analysis are suitable depends upon the information sought.

Epitomizing Picture Scores (JOGs only):

Since all JOGs consist of all possible combinations of sets of 5 PD pictures, there are zero to four times that a given picture can be chosen on a Topic. The Epitomizing Picture Score is the number of times a given picture was chosen on a single Topic (often expressed as a percentage). A score of “4” (or 100%) reflects the fact that the picture was chosen every time it appeared on a Topic, and thus somehow epitomizes the Topic – there are features of the picture that somehow correlate with a participant’s perceptions of the Topic. Epitomizing Picture Scores can be calculated at the individual participant level and/or the group level.

Epitomizing Picture Scores provide a window into qualitative characteristics that are shared by pictures and a given topic. This feature figures prominently in some of the optional activities that may bundled in a PD administration, especially when the study includes Picture Naming as an Administration option. Note that this augments the quantitative information provided by SCSs between Topics. Epitomizing Picture Scores are often expressed as a percentage.