Validity of questionnaire and TAT measures of need for achievement: Two meta-analyses.

Abstract

Proponents of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), most notably McClelland, have argued that the TAT and questionnaires are valid measures of different aspects of achievement motivation. Critics of the TAT have argued that questionnaires but not the TAT are valid measures of the need for achievement. Two meta-analyses of 105 randomly selected empirical research articles found that correlations between TAT measures of need for achievement and outcomes were on average positive; that these correlations were particularly large for outcomes such as career success measured in the presence of intrinsic, or task-related, achievement incentives; that questionnaire measures of need for achievement were also positively correlated with outcomes, particularly in the presence of external or social achievement incentives; and that on average TAT-based correlations were larger than questionnaire-based correlations. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Over the course of 4 decades, McClelland, Atkinson and their associates have studied the motivational bases of human behavior. Much of their work has focused on the sources and effects of achievement motivation. This work has ranged from laboratory studies of the effects of need for achievement on performance (Atkinson & Litwin, 1960), studies of performance and success of people such as entrepreneurs in vocational settings (McClelland & Winter, 1969), training efforts aimed to increase the need for achievement of individuals (McClelland, 1965), as well as studies linking the achievement motive to the economic growth and decline of civilizations (McClelland, 1961). During this period a number of theories of motivation have been developed (e.g., Atkinson, 1957; McClelland, 1985). At the same time, McClelland, Atkinson, and their colleagues have devoted much research to the issue of measuring the need for achievement in individuals. The focus of this work has been the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Atkinson, 1982; McClelland, 1972, 1980, 1985; McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1958; McClelland, Clark, Roby, & Atkinson, 1958). TAT presents the subject with a set of pictures, general instructions to be creative, and a set of four questions to guide the respondent in writing stories. The respondent writes a short story interpreting each picture, and the stories are then coded for the presence of various types of achievement imagery. The TAT method of measuring the achievement motive has inspired substantial criticism as well as defense. Critics have charged that TAT measures of the achievement motive demonstrate poor test-retest and internal consistency reliability (Entwisle, 1972; Fineman, 1977; Weinstein, 1969) and have low and inconsistent correlations with actual achievement-oriented be