Repertory Grid - Using The Repertory Grid

Using The Repertory Grid

Careful interviewing to identify what the individual means by the words initially proposed, and careful consideration of the ratings the client wishes to use to position elements on constructs in order to express that meaning precisely, are required.

For example, when using a 5-point rating system to characterise the way in which a group of fellow-employees are viewed on the construct 'Keen and committed versus Energies elsewhere', a 1 indicating that the left pole of the construct applies ('Keen and committed') and a 5 indicating that the right pole of the construct applies ('Energies elsewhere') might be used. On being asked to rate all of the elements, our interviewee might reply that Tom merits a 2 (fairly keen and committed), Mary a 1 (very keen and committed), and Peter a 5 (his energies are very much outside the place of employment). The remaining elements (another five people in our example) are then rated on this construct.

Typically, (and of course depending on the topic) people have a limited number of genuinely different constructs for any one topic: 6 to 16 are common when they talk about their job or their occupation, for example. The richness of our meaning structures comes from the many different ways in which a limited number of constructs can be applied to individual elements. We might discover that Tom is fairly keen, very experienced, lacks social skills, is a good technical supervisor, can be trusted to follow complex instructions accurately, has no sense of humour, will always return a favour, and only sometimes help his co-workers; while Mary is very keen, fairly experienced, has good social and technical supervisory skills, needs complex instructions explained to her, appreciates a joke, always returns favours, and is very helpful to her co-workers. Two very different and complex pictures, using just 8 constructs about one's co-workers.