Concept Sorting and the Repertory Grid

In this week's lecture we discussed the repertory grid technique for knowledge elication

For the tutorial I'd like you to have a brief try at the technique with a fellow student.

When you have completed the exercise, reverse the roles so each gets a chance to act as subject and knowledge elicitor.

The technique is simple to use. After agreeing a topic, follow these steps:

Let the subject choose a number of elementsthat are thought to be representative of the domain under analysis. These can be anything, but for today's exercise I suggest these should be between 10 and 20 things that can be noted on paper.
For example, and elicitation on wine may start with these elements:
1. Sauvingnon
2. Merlot
3. Shiraz
4. Chardonay
5. ........
Note all the elements on individual post-its
Use the triadicmethod to elicit the constructs.Lay the post-its down on a table and choose 3 at random. Ask your subject to seperate the 3 into 2 groups, one having 2 elements that share a similarity, the other having the element that was different.
Ask the subject to explain the difference between the two groups, and use this to form a construct.
For example, a comparison of Sauvingnon, Merlot and Shiraz might yield Sauvingnon, Merlot as European and Shiraz as New World. The poles of the construct would then be European and New World.
Use this construct to rankall other elements onto a row on a grid. Use a numerical scale of 1-5, with 3 representing a mid point that also serves to indicate if a construct was irrelevant to that element.
Go back to step 2 and continue to get a grid about 6 lines deep, or the topic has been exhausted.

Try to ensure the elements form a logically homogenous group (for example, Californian, White or Parsnip wouldn't fit well into our group above)
Remember it is the subject who is in charge of this exercise, so they must be able to choose their own elements and constructs and rankings.

Use Web-Grid (below) to build a dendogram from your grid.

Web-Grid Use the on-line software to build your own grids. There is also much academic material here about Personal Construct Theory

Enquire Within A commercial Repertory Grid Site with explanations of the method.