The Meaning of Protective Measurements

Protective measurements, which we have introduced recently, allow to measure properties of the state of a single quantum system and even the Schr\"odinger wave itself. These measurements require a protection, sometimes due to an additional procedure and sometimes due to the potential of the system itself. The analysis of the protective measurements is presented and it is argued, contrary to recent claims, that they measure the quantum state and not the protective potential. Some other misunderstandings concerning our proposal are clarified.