The Twenty Statements Test (or TST) is an instrument used to measure [self concept]. It was devised in 1954 by Manfred Kuhn & Thomas McPartland, with the aim of finding a standardised way to measure assumptions and self-attitudes. The test takes the form of a survey, with respondents asked to give up to twenty responses to the prompts, "Who am I?" or "I am...".
Subsequent analysis of responses to the twenty statements test found that responses can be grouped into five categories (Kuhn, 1960):
- Social groups and classifications
- Ideological beliefs
- Interests
- Ambitions
- Self-evalutations.
Kuhn (1960) found that the responses in these five categories varied in frequency depending on the age, sex and profession of respondents.
Reference
Kuhn, Manford H. (1960). Self-Attitudes by Age, Sex and Professional Training. Sociological Quarterly, 1(1), 39-56.