PERSONAL PROJECTS ANALYSIS©

Module 1:
Project Elicitation

We are interested in studying the kinds of activities and concerns that people have over the course of their lives. We call these personal projects. All of us have a number of personal projects at any given time that we think about, plan for, carry out and sometimes (though not always) complete.

Some projects may be focussed on achievement (“Getting my degree”) others on the process (“Enjoying a night out with friends”); they may be things we choose to do or things we have to do; they may be things we are working towards or things we are trying to avoid. Projects may be related to any aspect of your daily life, university, work, home, leisure and community, among others. Please think of projects in this broad way.

Some examples of projects

·         Pass my psychology course

·         Cut down on junk food

·         Play with my cat

·         Clean my apartment

·         Try not to make my parents mad

·         Clarify my religious beliefs

·         Exercise more often

·         Go to Europe this summer 

·         Be a better parent

·         Break off with Robert

·         Climb the Matterhorn

·         Understand Suzanne better

·         Find a part-time job

·         Stop putting off studying until the last minute

We are also interested in finding out what you think and how you feel about these personal projects and activities, how important or stressful they are, and so on.

To start, please take 10-15 minutes and write down on the following page(s) as many personal projects and activities you can that you are currently engaged in or considering -- remember these need not be formal projects or even important ones -- we would prefer you to give us more of the everyday kinds of activities or concerns that characterize your life at present.                                                                                                                                                         

© Brian Little, Ph. D., 1983

[ One to two pages of lined paper will be needed for the project elicitation ]

Module 2:
Project Rating Matrices and Dimension Definitions

Now select 10 projects from your list that you feel are important to you or typical of your life and copy them onto the matrix on the next page. If you have many more than 10 such projects, choose those that you expect to be actively working on in the next couple of months.

Once you have written in all 10 projects you may begin to rate each one from 0 - 10 on the series of dimensions listed along the top of the page. If you feel a dimension is not relevant to a project, you may put an X in the space instead of a numerical rating, but please try to rate each project on all dimensions wherever possible.

In the following section of this questionnaire is a list of these dimensions and a more detailed explanation of what each one means. Please detach the list for easy reference and refer to it as needed while you rate your projects.

Figure 1: PPA Rating Matrix: What do you think about what you are doing?

Figure 2: PPA Rating Matrix: How do you feel about what you are doing?

Project Dimension Definitions

1. Importance

How important is this project to you?

(Use 10 if you consider it to be very important, and 0 if it is not at all important)

2. Difficulty

How difficult do you find it to carry out each project?

(Use 10 for a project which is extremely difficult to carry out, and 0 for one that is not difficult at all.)

3. Visibility

How visible is this project to others that are close to you?

(Use 10 for a project which is very visible to those around you, and 0 for a project which is not at all visible to those around you).

4. Control

How much do you feel you are in control of this project?

(Use 10 if you feel completely in control of the project, and 0 if you feel you have absolutely no control over the project.)

5. Responsibility

How responsible are you for carrying out this project?

(Use 0 is you do not feel any responsibility for making progress in this project, and 10 if you feel entirely responsible for the project.)

6. Time Adequacy

How adequate is the amount of time you spend working on this project?

(Use 10 if you feel the amount of time is perfectly adequate, and 0 if you feel that the amount of time you spend working on the project is not at all adequate.)

7. Outcome (Likelihood of Success)

How successful do you believe this project will be?

(Use 10 if you expect the project to be entirely successful, and 0 if you think the project will turn out to be a total failure.)

8.  Self-Identity

All of us have things we do that we feel are typical or truly expressive of us. These things can be thought of as our "trade marks". For example, some people engage in sports every chance they get, others prefer to read, others prefer to socialize.  Think of what your own personal "trade marks" are, and then rate this project on the extent to which it is typical of you.

(Use 10 if a project is very typical of you, and 0 if it is not typical at all.)

9. Others’ View of Importance

How important is this project seen to be by those people who are close to you?

(Use 10 if a project is seen by others as very important, and 0 if it is seen as not important at all.)

10. Value Congruency

To what extent is each project consistent with the values that guide your life?

(Use 10 if a project is totally consistent with your values, and 0 if a project is totally at odds with them)

11. Progress

How successful have you been in this project so far?

(Use 10 to indicate that you have been very successful and 0 to indicate that you have had no success at all.)

12. Challenge

How challenging do you find this project?

(Use 10 if it is very challenging, perhaps more than you can handle, and 0 if it is not at all challenging, indeed you find it almost boring).

13. Absorption

To what extent do you become engrossed or deeply involved in a project

(Use 10 if you generally get absorbed in an activity, and 0 if you tend to be uninvolved when doing it).

14. Support

To what extent do you feel each project is supported by other people? Support may come in different forms, e.g. emotional (encouragement, approval), financial (money, material possessions) or practical (active assistance).

(Use 10 if you feel other people support the project a lot, and 0 if there is no support at all).

15. Competence

To what extent do you feel competent to carry out this project?

(Use 10 if you feel completely competent to carry out the project, and 0 if you do not feel competent to carry it out).

16. Autonomy

How much is this project one which you feel you are pursuing autonomously, that is, you are engaged of your own free will in the project, not because anyone else wants you to do it.

(Use 10 if you are engaged in this project entirely of your own free will, and 0 if this project is one that you feel totally obliged to complete because of or for someone else)

17. Stage

Projects often go through several stages, which can be visualized along a time-line, such as:

0........1........2........3........4........5........6........7........8........9........10

Think of each project as moving through stages on such a time-line. Using the scale on this page, rate each project's stage: