Comparing the sign vs. interrelated pattern approach of projective drawings: School-ready and premature children's drawings of a tale

The study compared the sign approach versus the interrelated pattern approach of projective drawings, investigating school-ready and as yet not school-ready children's drawings of a tale. A simple, short tale was selected to stimulate children's imaginations. It was hypothesized that (1) it is possible to construct patterns of signs with the instruments of hierarchical cluster analysis, (2), drawings of school-ready children would express the details and the meaning of the story in a combined and representative way. (1) Testing the first hypothesis, the “sign approach” resulted in no significant differences between the two groups. In the second part an “interrelated pattern approach” was used. A scale was constructed, consisting of a total of five signs (number of colors used, absence of any groundline, presence of interactions between figures, presence of any grandmother- grandchild relation, and number of unidentifiable elements, with negative scores). Significant differences (t=8,3; p=0,0002) were found between groups; school-ready children achieved more scores than premature children. (2) To prove the sencond hypothesis, hierarchical cluster analyses of variables (BMDP 1M) were performed in each group. The dendogram of the groups revealed patterns (clusters or subclusters) that are hidden from a nomotetic, sign-oriented approach. The results support the concept of “pattern approach” instead of the analysis of individual signs and contribute to the development of a more complex methodology in the study of projective drawings.