Methodology for sharing personal construct systems

Abstract

A methodology is outlined that reflects the intention of Kelly's Commonality corollary of eliciting and recognizing individual differences. People may use the same terms or descriptions to label different constructs, use different terms to label the same construct, use the same term to label the same construct, or use different terms and have different constructs. RepGrid provides an integrated set of tools for eliciting and analyzing repertory grids. Socio is one of the tools in RepGrid that compares the construct systems of several people in the same domain. It can be used to focus discussion between people on the differences between them that require resolution, enabling them to be classified in terms of differing terminologies (what they have been labeled), levels of abstraction, disagreements, and so on. Socio promotes the full exploration of the conceptual framework of a domain by encouraging people to operate in a brainstorming mode as a group, using differing viewpoints to develop a rich framework. It avoids social pressures that force an invalid consensus by providing objective analysis of separately elicited construct systems.