Personal Constructs

Personal ConstructsA short introductory presentation for

PGCERT group working on Action Research

by Martin Hibbert

Introduction

George Kelly - The Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955)

Introduction

George Kelly - The Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955)

“There is no objective absolute truth and events are meaningful only in relation to the ways that

they are construed by individuals”

What are Personal Constructs?


The basic units of analysis in Kelly’sTheory of Personality



The dimensions we use to conceptualise aspects of our day to day world.



The dimensions we use to conceptualise aspects of our day to day world.

They are our “forecasters” for future events and enable us to “rehearse” situations before they

happen.

Repertory Grids

Subject is asked to name a number of people who are significant - These are the elements

Subject arranges elements into groups of 3 where 2 are similar but at the same time different from the 3rd. These become the constructs. (bi polar constructs)

Grid is constructed by subject placing each element at similarity or contrast pole. x=one pole and blank the other.

Adapted from Cohen L. et al (2008) Research Methods in Education. London:Routledge

Repertory Grids

Subject is asked to name a number of people who are significant - These are the elements

Subject arranges elements into groups of 3 where 2 are similar but at the same time different from the 3rd. These become the constructs. (bi polar constructs)

Grid is constructed by subject placing each element at similarity or contrast pole. x=one pole and blank the other.

Here’s one I prepared earlier

Scales

Theory

Technique

Repertoire Writing

Recording

Hard-Easy x x x

Want to - Make Myself x x x

Regular - Infrequent x x x x

Elicited/Provided Constructs

Provided constructs may work better in group situations?

Elicited constructs may help us more accurately help the individual?

We can also experiment with providing the elements.

Variations in dealing with classifications of elements

Split -half form

Rank order form

Rating form

Variations in dealing with classifications of elements

Interpreting Data 1Basic

Looking along the Rows you can see how a person defines each construct in terms of significant elements

From each column you can get a profile of the element in terms of the constructs selected by the subject

Interpreting Data 2Advanced

Interpret the way that constructs are linked by being applied to the same elements. Estimate linkage between constructs 1 and 2 - count number of matches between corresponding boxes in each row. (Chance would indicate half the number of boxes as a match.) Subtract the chance from the observed value to get an estimate of the deviation from chance. Match each construct against the first. Then repeat for second and so on. The sign of each difference indicates the linkage direction as positive association or negative association. Total the difference score for each construct. The construct with biggest difference accounts for the greatest variance on the grid. Blah blah blah. As you can see the data can then be quantified. There are programs available for grid analysis such as “Enquire Within”

Pros

Provides an abundance of data for analysis

Can be as detailed as you want

Elicited forms provide less “guided” data

Provides useful comparative data identifying changes in individual subjects as they progress on a course.

Cons

Can be too much data to interpret

Can be complicated for student to comprehend

Researcher can accidentally “lead” or make un warranted inferences about constructs’ polar opposites

Low relevance of constructs decided by subject

What can we do with this as Action Researchers?

What can we do with this as Action Researchers?

We can use it, amongst other things, to: evaluate how we perform as teachersevaluate how we compare to others

evaluate how we can relate more professionally to students.

Documents

Personal Constructs