In a recent blog I said that the field of psychology, which is built on data from experiments on 17-year old college students doing tests on supercilious questions, is not science. The methodology is nonsense.
To build a science on data about human psychology, the approach would have to be very different. I have done such research and will elucidate here the correct way to do it.
I created a model of such proper scientific research in the mid-1980s. I invited 12 people I knew, but who didn’t know each other, to my house. When they came in I had them put on a large number label and asked them not to say anything to anyone else. When they were all seated around my living room I had them fill out a page that had all the combinations of numbers 1-2, 1-3 etc and rate them as more alike or less alike. Then I had them go to a table with refreshments and before leaving the living room I had them put on a new label A to L . When they returned I asked each to give a short description of themself and then had them all fill out a new page with A-B, A-C etc rated the same way, more alike or less alike.
The data was tabulated and analyzed on an mdscal program. The results are multidimensional lines.
The same approach can be used in five cities using random subjects. Boston, New York, Atlanta, Fresno and San Francisco.
Participants can be shown instruments such as the Rorschach test and follow-up with questions to test the theoretical dimensions reflected in the prior tests.
This would be the beginning of a scientific basis for psychological data gathering. No presumptions. Most negligible preconception bias conceivable.