A Comparative Meta-Analysis of Rorschach and MMPI Validity

Two previous meta-analyses concluded that average validity coefficients for the Rorschach and the MMPI have similar magnitudes ( L. Atkinson, 1986 ; K. C. H. Parker, R. K. Hanson, & J. Hunsley, 1988 ), but methodological problems in both meta-analyses may have impeded acceptance of these results ( H. N. Garb, C. M. Florio, & W. M. Grove, 1998 ). We conducted a new meta-analysis comparing criterion-related validity evidence for the Rorschach and the MMPI. The unweighted mean validity coefficients ( ¯r s) were .30 for MMPI and .29 for Rorschach, and they were not reliably different ( p = .76 under fixed-effects model, p = .89 under random-effects model). The MMPI had larger validity coefficients than the Rorschach for studies using psychiatric diagnoses and self-report measures as criterion variables, whereas the Rorschach had larger validity coefficients than the MMPI for studies using objective criterion variables.