A validation of repertory grid technique as a measure of political construing

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

“…Repertory grids can be used to uncover broad categories used for understanding other people in one's social world, or for understanding a specific realm of experience. It has been validated through comparisons of different groups of people (Fransella & Bannister, 1967;Ryle & Breen, 1972) but has been particularly useful in the study of identity development and change (Edwards, 1988;Smith, 1990;Strachan & Jones, 1982;Turnbull & Norris, 1982;Ugazio & Castiglioni, 1998). A major benefit of the repertory grid method is that data can be analysed both nomothetically and idiographically.…”

Identifying attributes required by Foundation Year 1 doctors in multidisciplinary teams: a tool for performance evaluation

“…We used this method because there seems to be no comprehensive listing of the attributes FY1 doctors require to work well in teams that has actually been drawn from those who would most appropriately be able to identify them, that is, other, more experienced members of MDTs who work with FY1 doctors. As ‘RGT’ is based on the precept that the researcher would conduct interviews with a sample taken from the target group to elicit such attributes,12 the method seemed ideal for this study.…”

“…RGT has been used in a very wide range of contexts, for example, organisational development, teacher development, psychotherapy, nursing, management development and so on,12, 13 to understand how people ‘construe’ (ie. see, understand, interpret) people, situations and things.…”

“…see, understand, interpret) people, situations and things. Repertory grids are not standardised tests or questionnaires, so it is up to the researcher to design a grid to suit the particular research project 12. In this study, the purpose of the repertory grid was to see how members of MDTs construed FY1 doctors in the context of the attributes needed by such doctors to work well in MDTs.…”

“…These are the people, situations or things construed. Elements must be carefully selected so that they are relevant for purpose of the grid 12. In this study, we were concerned with how participants (ie, members of MDTs) construed FY1 doctors, so the elements were FY1 doctors with whom the participants had worked, together with an ‘Ideal’ element.…”