Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi everyone! One of the topics I'm interested in is the Lüscher color test and seeing its validity. I wanted to do a comparison of the attributes in the original experiment to questions associated with the Barnum Effect and see how different people respond to each experiment. I'd probably measure how many people said they would align themselves with different Barnum questions and how people arrange colors in accordance to the number of people choosing certain attributes.
Is this too much to do at once? Should I just focus on one or the other? If I were to expand on the idea, should I ask participants to take a Myers-Briggs test before or after they respond to either the effect or the test to observe how they would otherwise align themselves?

This year I've developed an interest in cosmetology and some of the things I've found in my research are the different ways skin color is measured which seems to be especially important in testing topical spot removal creams, for example.
What would be the best method for analyzing skin tone? Is there an order for most to least cost-effective/accessible? So far I've found information on spectrophotometers, reflectometry, and visual scales like the Fitzpatrick scale.

Are there other, more consistent/accurate ways to measure skin tone (are any of these the best options)?
Please let me know! Behavioral science intrigues me but I don't know if all this is too much or if I should work with another idea.

Moderator note: I have combined two of your posts since they are very similar. The Science Buddies guidelines state that you should keep your posts together. This helps the experts here to see all of your questions so they can provide help. Thank you.

Hi Debbie and welcome to Scibuddies,

You have outlined two interesting and different areas for potential science projects. The Lüscher Color Test has been studied rather extensively and compared to the Barnum effect and with results of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Is there any new slant that you are thinking of to test with regard to color preference and personality? I'm not that familiar with the psychology of color but it would seem to be a fascinating field. Whether it can be treated scientifically, I don't know.

In the second part of your post, you want to know to best method for analyzing skin tone. This would not constitute a science project in itself unless you could tie it to a hypothesis. Thinking about color perception, however, made me wonder if there was any connection between a person's skin tone and their color preferences. That might be something testable.

Let me hear from you again and maybe we can develop a real hypothesis that will allow you to conduct experiments on volunteers' color perceptions in relation to some variable.

Sybee