Depending what element type project_title is, yes, it may well be an array in the raw request data.
Also, remember that JRequest::getVar() is only going to work when submitting a form, as what it does is grab data from the request, i.e. URL (query string) data from $_REQUEST, or posted form form data from $_POST. Which don't exist during list display.
So if you run that code during list display, i.e. "Calc on save only" set to No, it won't work as expected.
The best way would be to use Fabrik's getElementData() ...
PHP:
$ddval = $formModel->getElementData('timerec___project_title');
... which should work in either case, and return either the data being submitted, the data for the row being displayed, or the data for the form being displayed, depending on the context of the call. It should also solve the array vs not an array issue.
If you need the raw data, add a second arg of true:
PHP:
$ddval = $formModel->getElementData('timerec___project_title', true);
-- hugh