cakephp, jquery, .ajax(), dataType: json

is it possible to be able to do without a view for a cakephp controller function? i am trying to have my server return a datatype that is not a string - but an array

my controller function :


    function test() {
      $this->layout = 'plain';
      $task['Numbers']['uno'] = 'mooo';
      $task['Numbers']['dos'] = 'says the cow';
      $result = json_encode($task);
      $this->set('result', $result);
    }

my view file test.ctp



    echo $result;


my jquery:



    $('#test').live('click', test);

    function test() {

        var data = $('#form').serialize();

        $.ajax({
        type: "post",
        url: "/controller/test",
        data: data,
        dataType: 'json',
        success: function(response){    		
        alert(response.Numbers.uno);
        }
        });

    }

clicking on the html element marked test doesn't give me anything. however if i take out


dataType: 'json', 


and change

alert(response.Numbers.uno);

to


alert(response);



in my jquery - i get an alert: the json encoded data but as a string (

alert(typeof response);

)

does anyone have any idea what might be happening?