Yorke, Mantz (1983) the Repertory Grid: a Critical Appraisal. Phd Thesis, University of Nottingham

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Yorke, Mantz (1983) the Repertory Grid: a Critical Appraisal. Phd Thesis, University of Nottingham Yorke, Mantz (1983) The repertory grid: a critical appraisal. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12181/1/244111_voll1.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE REPERTORY GRID : Critical Appraisal .ý by Dudley Mansbridge Yorke BSc MEd AdvDipEd VoL:1 rn a CO Thesis submitted to the rý i> University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 1983 THE REPERTORY GRID : A Critical Appraisal The attempt to clarify one's own practice belongs to the very meaning of science; indeed, that is what method in science is all about. A. Giorgi 1976: 288. Contents Volume 1 Contents i Abstract vi Acknowledgments viii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Genesis 2 4 1.2 Towards a critique of method 1.3 Architectonic 5 1.4 Infrastructure 7 1.5 On criticism 15 2. A scientific theory? Construct theory and the philosophy of science 19 2.1 Introduction 20 2.2 The pragmatist background 20 2.3 The boundaries of Kellian theory 24 2.4 The metaphor of 'the scientist' 27 2.5 Personal construct theory and the philosophy of science 30 2.6 Summary 44 3. Construct theory: a cognitive perspective 46 3.1 Introduction 47 3.2 The fundamental postulate 47 3.3 The corollaries 55 3.3.1 The construction corollary 56 3.3.2 The dichotomy and range corollaries 60 3.3.3 The organization corollary 75 3.3.4 The individuality and experience corollaries 79 3.3.5 The fragmentation and modulation corollaries 80 3.3.6 The commonality and sociality corollaries 84 3.3.7 The choice corollary 87 3.4 Summary 91 4. Theory and method: in essential tension? 93 4.1 Introduction 94 4.2 Repertory test and repertory grid 94 4.3 Reproduction or reconstruction? 97 4.4 Language and meaning 99 4.5 Interaction between researcher and respondent 103 4.6 The repertory grid and cognitive structure 106 4.7 Hinkle's work on structure 111 4.8 The repertory grid and personal construct theory 117 4.9 Summary 120 i 5. Elements 122 5.1 Introduction 123 5.2 Context 123 5.3 Sampling 131 5.4 Elicited or supplied elements? 134 5.5 Meaningfulness, salience and stability of elements 138 5.6 Summary 145 6. Constructs 147 6.1 Introduction 148 6.2 Assumptions underlying the elicitation of constructs 148 6.2.1 Permeability 148 6.2.2 The pre-existence of elicited constructs 150 6.2.3 The functional communicability of constructs 154 6.2.4 Representative sorts 157 6.2.5 The manageability of grid completion 158 6.2.6 Construct stability during elicitation 159 6.2.7 Other assumptions 161 6.3 Adequacy of the sample of constructs 162 6.4 How many constructs? 166 6.5 Methods of eliciting constructs 171 6.5.1 Triadic elicitation 172 6.5.2 Dyadic elicitation 176 6.5.3 'Full context' elicitation 178 6.5.4 Laddering 182 6.5.5 Freer forms of elicitation 186 6.5.6 Methods of elicitation: a concluding perspective 189 6.6 Elicited versus supplied constructs 191 6.6.1 Introduction 191 6.6.2 Extremity of rating 193 6.6.3 Are elicited constructs superior? 198 6.7 Types of construct 205 6.8 'As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be... ' - or should it be 'ought to be'? 211 7. Bipolarity... or not? 216 7.1 Introduction 217 7.2 Bipolarity: some empirical evidence 220 7.3 'Bent' constructs 228 7.4 Pseudo-bipolarity 230 7.5 Construct complexity 232 7.6 Inherent vagueness 238 7.7 Summary 242 8. Completing the grid matrix: practical and conceptual issues 244 8.1 Introduction 245 8.1.1 Dichotomous grids 245 8.1.2 Ranked grids 248 8.1.3 Rated grids 250 8.2 Practical and methodological issues 250 8.2.1 Problems of rating 251 8.2.2 Distribution of ratings 254 8.2.3 Range of convenience 259 8.2.4 Interim appraisal and reorientation 261 8.3 Conceptual issues in the psychology of rating 262 8.3.1 Social judgment in the light of construct theory 262 8.3.2 Rating scales: the problem stated 265 8.3.3 Stevens's work on scaling 266 ii 8.3.4 Anchoring 269 8.3. *5 Lexical marking 274 8.3.6 The complexity of meaning 280 8.3.7 Rating scales: a multiplex of metrics? 284 8.3.8 The 'mid-point problem' 293 8.3.9 Element x construct interaction 297 8.3.10 Construct x construct interaction 300 8.4 The practice of rating: conceptualisation revisited 304 8.5 Summary 314 9. Analysis 316 9.1 Introduction 317 9.2 Grid analysis by hand 317 9.3 Computer analysis 320 9.4 Specific methods for analysing repertory grid data 323 9.4.1 Slater's INGRID program 324 9.4.2 Thomas and Shaw's FOCUSprogram 328 9.4.3 Cluster analysis and profile 334 9.5 Minimising the problem of missing data: one approach 337 9.6 Problems of inference 339 9.6.1 Individual grids 340 9.6.2 Aggregated grids 345 9.7 Some further unresolved problems of grid analysis 350 9.7.1 The 'hairpin construct' 351 9.7.2 Highly correlated constructs 354 9.7.3 Construct equivalence/inequivalence 355 9.8 Concluding heretical postscript 359 9.9 Summary 362 10. Stability, 364 10.1 Introduction 365 10.2 Reliability and personal construct theory 367 10.3 Test-retest stability 369 10.4 Parallel-form stability 375 10.5 Test-retest and parallel-form stability: a concluding comment 379 10.6 The problem of missing data 381 10.7 Stability indexes: a small scale comparison 387 10.8 Some factors which. may affect stability 389 10.8.1 Rapport 389 10.8.2 Loose construing 391 10.8.3 Extremity of rating 392 10.9 Stability: some tentative conclusions 397 11. The intolerable wrestle: words, meanings, and. the repertory grid 400 11.1 Introduction 401 11.2 Linguistic relativism 401 11.3 The repertory grid: a linguistic perspective 405 11.4 Does fuzzy set theory offer a possible solution to the problems of grid methodology? 415 11.5 Implications for methodology 419 11.6 Summary 425 12. Sieve or riddle? The question of validity 427 12.1 Validity and repertory grid methodology 428 12.2 Factors influencing the validity of a grid 431 12.2.1 The grid itself 431 12.2.2 Elements 432 iii 12.2.3 Constructs 431. 12'. 2.4 Bipolarity 436 12.2.5 Completing the grid matrix 438 12.2.6 Analysis and interpretation 442 12.2.7 Stability 444 12.2.8 Language 1j45 12.3 The repertory grid and behaviour 447 12.4 Theory and method: a reprise 450 12.5 Reorientation: from formism towards contextualism 454 iv Volume 2 13. Excursus: to sail beyond the sunset... 458 13.1 Introduction 459 13.2 The poverty of physicalism 461 471 13.3 Personal construct theory and interpretation 13.4 The evolution of hermeneutics 473 13.5 Action as text? A digression on interpretation and explanation 479 13.6 First and second order construing 484 13.7 The problem of understanding 487 13.8 Researching within a personal construct hermeneutic framework 494 13.8.1 The problem of communication 495 13.8.2 Accounts as evidence in the human sciences 497 13.8.3 Accountss some general issues regarding methodology 499 13.8.4 The role of the researcher 503 13.8.5 Three methods of eliciting an account 504 13.8.6 A systematic approach to the elicitation of accounts 509 13.8.7 Interpretation 515 13.9 Some broader implications for research 523 13.9.1 Experience of the researcher 523 13.9.2 Dialectics of interpretation 525 13.9.3 Contact between researcher and respondent 525 13.9.4 Methodological individualism and generalisation 528 14. Envoi 536 Notes 539 Notes to Chapter 1 540 Notes to Chapter 2 540 Notes to Chapter 3 546 Notes to Chapter 4 554 Notes to Chapter 5 557 Notes to Chapter 6 560 Notes to Chapter 7 565 Notes to Chapter 8 566 Notes to Chapter 9 571 Notes to Chapter 10 575 Notes to Chapter 11 578 Chapter 12 Notes .to 581 Notes to Chapter 13 582 Notes to Chapter 14 590 References 591 Appendices Endpapers.
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