The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids / Edition 1 available in Paperback
The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids / Edition 1
- ISBN-10:
- 0470854049
- ISBN-13:
- 9780470854044
- Pub. Date:
- 10/24/2003
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids / Edition 1
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Overview
Written as a DIY guide, with a friendly expert sitting beside you, this book will teach you the technique of repertory grids step by step. Here you'll find all the information you need, alongside lots of worked examples and helpful exercises that you can use to check your understanding. The answers are in the back! If you want additional practice and resources a website that supports this book can be found at www.wiley.co.uk/easyguide
Professor Devi Jankowicz is one of the leading authorities on occupational applications of personal construct theory and repertory grid technique. He has written this guide for psychology students and researchers; education students; personnel practitioners; as well as managers in the workplace.
"This book's title may seem a contradiction in terms to readers who have seen the repertory grid as dauntingly complex. However, the book lives up to its title in being a very user-friendly introduction to the technique, written in a chatty style, and including numerous practical exercises, mostly not requiring use of computer software." - David Winter University of Hertfordshire and Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780470854044 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 10/24/2003 |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.61(w) x 9.72(h) x 0.72(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids
By Devi Jankowicz
John Wiley & Sons
Copyright © 2003
Devi Jankowicz
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-470-85404-9
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
1.1 How to Use This Guidebook
1.2 What This Book Contains
1.3 What This Book Misses Out
1.4 A Word About the Examples
This small volume is intended as a convenient and user-friendly introductory
guide to the various procedures involved in eliciting and analysing repertory
grids. It isn't an academic treatise but a guidebook which provides you with
instructions on
how to elicit grids
how to analyse them to an accepted and rigorous standard.
It isn't a book about the theoretical background, personal construct theory
(PCT), since there are many of those: the bare bones of the theory are outlined,
just for reference, in Appendix 6. It isn't an academic treatment of repertory
grid technique, with a comprehensive review of the research on grids and their
use. That job is done by its companion volume, Fransella et al. (2004): see
below. It is a practical workbook and guide, using which you can teach
yourself how to elicit and analyse repertory grids. By the time you finish it,
going through all the examples and exercises, you will be proficient in grid
technique. Think of it as an introduction which teaches you the basics, and
refers you to moreadvanced information as required.
1.1 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEBOOK
The purpose of this section is to provide you with some suggestions on how to
make the best use of the material which follows. The first thing to notice is that
it's been written by two distinct persons.
The first is a technician. He knows about grids, and he wants to tell you, as
clearly as possible, how you can use them. One of life's definitive techies, he
takes the reasons for his knowledge for granted, and in order to provide clear
procedural instructions, he doesn't stop to examine his ideas or his rationale in
any great detail. He knows his stuff, and all he cares about is to help you
understand what you're doing with grids, as clearly as possible. He often uses
relatively short, declarative sentences, since his purpose is clear and simple
instruction. He writes like this, using the full width of the page.
The second person is a theorist. She, also, knows about grids, and has used them
extensively herself. As a result, she knows that the simple use of a procedure does
not guarantee success; indeed, she believes very strongly that simple technique,
bereft of ideas, concepts, and the reasons for doing things in a particular way, is
often misleading and occasionally dangerous. There's no such thing as a simple
procedure, uninformed by a set of assumptions for doing things one way rather than
another, and if you're unreflective, and don't learn a good set of reasons, your use of
grids will be inaccurate and, ultimately, ineffective. Because she deals in theory, justification,
and rationale, her sentences are often a wee bit longer. She writes like this, in
indented text.
Occasionally, the two argue with each other in order to make a point.
Secondly, it follows that the best way of reading this book is to read it in
stages. There are five simple steps.
Skim-read it, just running your eyes over the text as you turn the pages. See
what's on offer and, more importantly, how it's laid out, with text, exercises
at the end of each chapter, and answers to exercises and supplementary
information in the appendices.
Read it from start to finish, in order. This isn't a textbook that you can dip
into, and the various bits of technique build on each other. Take your time,
and master each section before moving on to the next.
At the outset, you should ignore the theorist, and read only the material
written by the technician. Avoid all the indented material. Get your head
round the procedures, and focus on the examples.
When you have grasped the bit of technique that's involved, and perhaps
practised it on yourself only, read the indented material which accompanies
the technique.
Don't use the procedure with another person until you've read both sets of
material.
Consequently, this book is a dialogue between two voices. It will be up to you as the
reader to put the two voices together; to make your own sense of the two sets of
information. Reading has to be an active process if the material which you read is to be
retained, and procedures which encourage people to talk to themselves as they're
reading are a particularly good way of learning! (see Thomas & Harri-Augstein,1985:
16-17).
Pace yourself, and don't spend too long at any one time with this guide. It's
not a novel that you can read in one gulp, nor is it something you can pick bits
out of. Some of the procedures may look complicated, and it may take you a
little while to get up to speed. They're actually very straightforward, as you'll
realise as soon as you've carried them out. Each one takes a bit of explaining in
written text, but as an activity in itself, is very easy - as you'll see as soon as
you do the relevant exercise. And so, steady does it. Plan on reading a section
at a time, do the exercise(s), practise the technique, and come back to the next
section another day.
If you have a friend with whom you can spend time trying out each technique
as you learn it, that would be very helpful, though a lot of the grid activities
can be done by yourself, on yourself.
Towards the end of each chapter, you'll find the following:
A set of 'Things to Do'. The best way to learn a technique is to practise it, and
the exercises under this heading provide you with the opportunity to do so.
If you want to learn how to use grids, you have to tackle each exercise at the
point in the text where it's suggested.
Occasionally, some suggestions for 'Further Reading' are provided,
highlighted where relevant.
At the very end of the book, you'll find a set of appendices. Of these, one is
particularly comforting, and that's Appendix 1. It provides you with the
'Answers to Exercises'. Take them on board, look again at your own attempt at
the exercise and, when you're happy to proceed, read on from the appropriate
part of the chapter.
The other one I want to mention here is less cuddly, but you'll appreciate it
because it's very practical. Appendix 7 is a 'Summary of Grid Procedures'.
This will be your vade mecum after you've learnt the basic techniques. Every
procedure presented in the guide is collated here in note form, to be used as an
aide-memoire when you're carrying out a grid interview and need to refresh
your memory about one of the steps. You can expect to use it a lot at first,
dispensing with it when you feel ready.
This book is meant to be entirely self-contained, and so it is, so far as the basics
of grid technique are involved. You can be up and doing without any other
reading. However, name-date references and a reference list in the usual form
are provided, so that you can develop your knowledge of the background
theory, advanced points of technique, further details on procedures, and some
applications.
You'll need these in any case if you're using grids to obtain empirical material
for an assessed project or dissertation that forms part of a course of study
you're following. If so, you may have encountered repertory grids before, for
they form part of Chapter 13 of Jankowicz (2000a), a research methods
textbook for management project and dissertation work.
Finally, if you want further guidance on points of technique, resource
materials, and a gateway to additional resources, you might like to log in to
The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids website. There are further details on this at
the end of Chapter 9.
1.2 WHAT THIS BOOK CONTAINS
We start off in Chapter 2 with a description of what a repertory grid is, what it
consists of, and why you would want to use one. A completed sample grid is
provided so that you can see the beast for yourself, while the exercise gets you
used to the basic constituents of a grid, which are called 'constructs'.
Chapter 3 provides you with the procedural steps involved in conducting a
grid interview (or eliciting a grid; the terms are synonymous), how to prepare
for it, and what the different design options might be. The exercises have you
eliciting a grid, and experimenting with the options available to you.
Chapter 4 is a refresher and problem-solving facility. I have tried to anticipate
the kinds of questions you might be wanting to ask after you've attempted
your first grid, and have provided you with what I hope will be helpful
answers - plus some further resources, including electronic ones, where you
might find further assistance. The exercises seek to develop your ability to
resolve issues that arise in grid technique. Partly, this depends on becoming
sensitive to the grid interview as a delicate interpersonal and social process,
and, to that end, you are referred to Appendix 2, which provides a detailed
transcript of a grid interview session keyed to the exercises.
Once you've got that far, you've come a long way! You know a lot of what
there is to know about elicitation, and the next step is to examine the rich
information that a grid provides, and to see how it might be analysed. Chapter
5 addresses the basic analysis of a single repertory grid, encouraging you to
take account of the process by which you arrived at your interviewee's
meanings, as well as describing what's to be seen, and how it might be
interpreted. By the end of this chapter, you should know how to get at the
meanings being expressed in a single grid. The exercises are designed to give
you practice at doing just that: process analysis, simple eyeball analysis, and
some construct categorisation.
Chapter 6 takes you a step further, looking at the informational relationships
within the grid. Where the previous chapter was largely descriptive, and you
made relatively little use of all the numbers, Chapter 6 outlines ways in which
you can examine relationships within the grid, using the numbers.
'Is it really true that this person likes his best friend better than himself?'
'I got the feeling in the grid interview that the interviewee described her boss
in terms very similar to those she uses when she talks about her main
competitor's MD. Can I see any particular evidence for that?'
'If I understand the interviewee correctly, this company's unique selling
proposition is practically the opposite of those used by its competitors. Have
I understood that accurately; how can I check it?'
'Whenever this student says he's confident about a subject he's studying, he
also says he had to rely on other people to learn it properly. Is there a
relationship between his social support and how effectively he learns?'
Some simple, and some more complex, procedures are outlined by which
relationships of these kinds can be examined. The exercises provide an
opportunity to practise different components of the analysis procedures.
One of the criticisms that can be levelled at existing ways of teaching repertory
grid technique is that relatively little time is spent in teaching people how to
analyse sets of grids. A grid is a very rich and complex description of one
person's views (in fact, it's been designed as the individual assessment device
par excellence!) and, perhaps as a result, the analysis of samples of repertory
grids is rather neglected. Chapter 7 is an attempt to put that right. It provides
two different forms of content analysis for the aggregation of grid materials,
advocates the use of differential analyses within very simple research designs,
and emphasises the importance of reliability in the analysis process. The
exercises give practice in all of this.
Chapter 8 provides an introduction to what is, arguably, the most important
and powerful activity associated with grid work: the description and self-assessment
of the interviewee's personal value system. Along the way, it
tackles the issue of social desirability responding ('faking good'), and, as an
outcome, provides you with a credible and powerful way of addressing the
problem. The exercises encourage you to consider your own values in a given
situation, prioritise them, and examine what might be required for you to
change them!
Finally, in the last chapter, we confront the major issue of change itself.
Change and difference: how can you tell when someone has changed their
mind? And how can you assess how well one person understands another
person's mind? Is it really possible to get into the other's head and see the
world through their eyes rather than your own? The examples check how well
you have understood the procedures involved.
1.3 WHAT THIS BOOK MISSES OUT
Firstly, it doesn't talk to you like a textbook. At least, I hope not! The point is to
learn how to do something in the here and now, rather than to understand it
conceptually. There will be times when you think that I'm spoon-feeding you,
and, no doubt, academics who review this book will feel that it's far too basic.
Never mind: that is a sacrifice well worth making if it creates some clear space in
which you can concentrate on learning the basics of technique. You can get
round to the more conceptually orientated books once you've mastered this one.
Always remember the need for a leavening of theory if you're not to misuse the practicalities!
There is one text, just one, which you could usefully regard as a companion
volume to this one, and as a first recourse when you find that the basics outlined herein
are an insufficient basis for your questions. Twenty-five years ago, Fay Fransella and
Don Bannister published their Manual of Repertory Grid Technique, a text which is to
reappearas Fransella et al. (2004).Use that as a conceptual back-up.
Secondly, it needs to be remembered that this is an introduction, and that
there's more to learn about more specialized, advanced techniques once you
have mastered the basics. There are, for example, a number of index measures
(see Section 5.1) based on grid information and sometimes used in therapy.
I haven't included them here because they are best used in conjunction with
other sources of information (clinical interviews, psychometric tests, repeated
grid measures, and familiarity with at least one strong theory of cognitive
structure), and none of these are included in this guide. (It is rather tempting,
for example, after recognising monolithic construing in a single grid, to infer
that the individual engages in obsessive thinking in general. I'd rather not
make inferences of that kind on the basis of a single grid.)
Thirdly, although I mention computer analysis of grid material, I don't
provide a systematic review of the various software packages available for
grid elicitation and analysis. This is especially relevant to Chapter 6, in which
two of the four procedures rely on some form of software.
Continues...
Excerpted from The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids
by Devi Jankowicz
Copyright © 2003 by Devi Jankowicz.
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
List of Figures.List of Tables.
About the Author.
Preface.
1. INTRODUCTION.
1.1 How to Use This Guidebook.
1.2 What This Book Contains.
1.3 What This Book Misses Out.
1.4 A Word About the Examples.
2. THE REPERTORY GRID: A BASIC DESCRIPTION.
2.1 The Basic Repertory Grid.
2.1.1 The Basic Constituents of a Grid.
Constructs.
Topic.
Elements.
Ratings.
2.1.2 So What is a Repertory Grid?
2.1.3 A Description of the Other Person in Their Own Terms.
2.2 An Example of a Completed Repertory Grid.
2.3 Points to Remember.
Things to Do.
Exercise 2.1 Specifying Constructs.
Exercise 2.2 Understanding the Background.
Things to Read.
3. ELICITING A REPERTORY GRID.
3.1 Grid Elicitation.
3.1.1 The Interview: Setting and Style.
3.1.2 The Basic Procedure Is in 10 Steps.
3.2 The Background to the Standard Procedure.
3.2.1 Choosing the Topic.
Tw o Rules of Thumb.
Qualifying Phrases.
3.2.2 Choosing Elements.
Elements Chosen by Investigator.
Elements Chosen by Interviewee.
Elements Chosen by Negotiation between Investigator and Interviewee.
Elicited Elements.
3.2.3 Specifying Constructs.
Laddering Down.
Qualifying Phrases as a Focus.
3.2.4 Obtaining Ratings.
3.3 Thinking About Yourself.
Things to Do.
Exercise 3.1 A First Practice Grid.
Exercise 3.2 Designing a Grid.
Exercise 3.3 A Self-Grid.
Things to Read.
4. QUESTIONS ABOUT GRID WORK.
4.1 Simple Procedural Issues: Questions and Answers.
4.1.1 Questions About the Elements.
4.1.2 Questions About the Constructs.
4.1.3 Questions About the Rating Procedure.
4.1.4 And, Overall.
4.2 Capturing Meaning by Using a Grid.
4.2.1 Triadic Elicitation.
4.2.2 The Full Context Form.
4.2.3 Dyadic Elicitation.
4.2.4 Elaboration.
4.2.5 The ‘Catch-All’ Question.
4.2.6 Alternatives to Rating.
Grouping the Elements.
Ranking the Elements.
4.2.7 Supplied Constructs.
4.2.8 Supplied Elements.
4.3 Capturing Meaning Without Using a Grid.
4.3.1 Being a Good Observer.
4.3.2 Storytelling.
Self-Characterisation.
Characterising Others.
Other Monadic Procedures.
4.3.3 Non-Verbal Techniques?
4.4 Increasing Detail and Variety.
4.4.1 Laddering Down – Asking ‘How, in What Way?’
Rating the Laddered Constructs in the Grid.
4.4.2 Pyramiding Technique.
Rating the Pyramided Constructs in the Grid.
Things to Do.
Exercise 4.1 Handling the Interview.
Exercise 4.2 Practising Pyramiding.
Things to Read.
5. DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF A SINGLE REPERTORY GRID.
5.1 An Overview.
5.2 A Stance Towards Analysis.
5.3 Describing the Basic Grid.
5.3.1 Process Analysis.
The Topic.
The Elements.
The Constructs.
The Ratings.
5.3.2 Eyeball Analysis.
5.3.3 Characterising Constructs.
Core Versus Peripheral Constructs.
Propositional Versus Constellatory Constructs.
Pre-emptive Constructs.
Other Types of Construct.
Standard Classification Schemes.
Things to Do.
Exercise 5.1 Practising Process Analysis.
Exercise 5.2 Practising Eyeball Analysis and Construct Categorisation.
Exercise 5.3 Characterising Constructs.
Things to Read.
6. ANALYSING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN A SINGLE GRID.
6.1 Simple Relationships.
6.1.1 Simple Relationships Between Elements.
6.1.2 Simple Relationships Between Constructs.
6.1.3 Simple Relationships in Summary.
6.2 Cluster Analysis.
6.2.1 Rationale for Cluster Analysis.
6.2.2 Procedure for Interpretation of a Cluster Analysis.
Elements.
Constructs.
6.3 Principal Components Analysis.
6.3.1 Rationale for Principal Components Analysis.
Constructs and Components.
Elements and Components.
6.3.2 Procedure for Interpretation of Principal Components Analysis.
6.4 Concluding Images.
Things to Do.
Exercise 6.1 Relationships among Elements.
Exercise 6.2 A Simple Decision Task.
Exercise 6.3 Turning Element Differences into % Similarities.
Exercise 6.4 Relationships Among Constructs.
Exercise 6.5 Turning Construct Differences into % Similarities.
Exercise 6.6 Finding Your Way Round a Principal Components Analysis Plot.
Things to Read.
7. ANALYSING MORE THAN ONE GRID.
7.1 The Nature of the Problem.
7.1.1 Sample Size.
7.1.2 Research Design.
7.2 Generic Approaches to Content Analysis.
7.2.1 Bootstrapping Techniques.
The Core-Categorisation Procedure.
The Generic Content-Analysis Procedure.
Design Issues: Differential Analysis.
Reliability.
7.2.2 A Design Example.
In Conclusion.
7.2.3 Standard Category Schemes.
Bootstrapped Schemes.
Theory-Based Schemes.
Combining Bootstrapped and Theory-Based Approaches.
7.3 Honey’s Content Analysis.
7.3.1 Rationale.
7.3.2 Procedure.
7.4 In Conclusion.
Things to Do.
Exercise 7.1 Identifying Categories.
Exercise 7.2 Practising Content Analysis: D-I-Y.
Exercise 7.3 Preparing Grid Data for Honey’s Technique.
Things to Read.
8. WORKING WITH PERSONAL VALUES.
8.1 Capturing Personal Values.
8.1.1 Laddering Up to Arrive at Values.
8.1.2 The Process of Values Elicitation.
How Do I Know That I’ve Got There?
What Do I Do if I Can’t Seem to Get There?
A Reminder.
8.2 Prioritising Personal Values: Resistance-to-Change Technique.
Things to Do.
Exercise 8.1 Explore Your Own Personal Values.
Exercise 8.2 Which of Your Values Are Resistant to Change?
Exercise 8.3 Working with Value Hierarchies.
Things to Read.
9. ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF CONSTRUING.
9.1 Identifying Personal Changes in Construing.
9.1.1 Identifying Personal Change: The Simple Change Grid.
9.1.2 Identifying Personal Change: The Messy Change Grid.
9.2. Identifying Differences Between People.
9.2.1 Facilitating Mutual Exploration: Simple Partnering.
9.2.2 Entering Another Person’s World: The Exchange Grid.
9.3 In Conclusion.
Things to Do.
Exercise 9.1 A Simple Change Grid Analysis.
Exercise 9.2 Handling a More Complex Change.
Exercise 9.3 An Exchange Grid.
Things to Read.
Appendix 1. Answers to Exercises.
Appendix 2. Extracts from the Transcript of a Grid Session.
Appendix 3. Element % Similarity Scores.
Appendix 4. Construct % Similarity Scores.
Appendix 5. Extracts from the Transcript of a Resistance-to-Change Session.
Appendix 6. The Formal Content of Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory.
Appendix 7. Aide-memoire/Summary of Grid Procedures.
Glossary.
References.
Index of Names and First-named Authors.
Subject Index.