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BOOK REVIEW
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THE EASY GUIDE TO REPERTORY GRIDS
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by Devi Jankowicz
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London: Wiley,
2004,
Paperback, 308 pages, £22.99 |
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reviewed by
Diane Allen (Coventry,
UK)
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The Easy Guide to
Repertory Grids provides
a very good link between taught grid elicitation and the development of
personal understanding. The style of the book is welcoming and
inviting. The
Introduction provides a very clear account of what the book is intended
to
provide and where the confident student can go for further development
of their
understanding. It also provides a comprehensive guide to the best use
of the
book material. I have been particularly impressed by the technician and
theorist perspectives which thread throughout the book and offer
different
levels of analysis for the student. The reader is encouraged by the
technician
perspective to attempt the practical exercises and then review them in
more
depth by engaging with the theorist. In this way the reader is
encouraged to
experiment and, rather than becoming anxious at exposure to fresh
theoretical
ideas, has their existing constructs about research rendered more
permeable and
open to adaptation.
The second chapter of the book offers a
user-friendly, clear and simple description of the basic ideas behind
the
repertory grid and its potential uses. It takes a while to warm to the
two
perspectives (the technician and the theorist) but reading the chapter
twice,
through the technician's account first, followed by the inclusion of
the
theorist, leads to a sense of satisfaction at having laid down the
groundwork
for the subsequent journey through grid elicitation in chapter three.
Professor Jankowicz cleverly addresses
the
needs of the naïve grid user throughout the body of the book. He
seems to have
taken into account the range of questions posed by his students and
used them
to create a dialogue between the reader, the technician and the
theorist. The
fourth chapter begins with responses to basic concerns about procedures
in
working with grids and leads the reader into greater depth of material
so they
become conversant with the processes behind classic PCP techniques such
as the self-characterisation
sketch, laddering and
pyramiding without
being overwhelmed.
Chapters five to seven
cover a range of ways in which repertory grids can be analysed without
the use
of a computer. Chapter five explores descriptive analysis of grid
content;
chapter six looks at analysing the numerical relationships between
elements and
constructs in a single grid and chapter seven describes how to analyse
more
than one grid with supplied constructs and, more in keeping with the
central
theme of Personal Construct Psychology, individually generated
constructs. Professor
Jankowicz describes how content analysis can be used to analyse more
than one
grid with personal constructs derived from supplied common elements.
Chapter eight focuses on the exploration
of
personal values, including an account of how to ladder up with
constructs. The
script suggested in this chapter is easy to follow and the explanation
enables
students to recognise the powerful impact of the technique and how it
relates to
the repertory grid. The chapter then uses the further exploration of
personal
values to introduce a resistance to
change technique.
The final chapter examines personal
change
and differences between people, using repertory grids. He tackles how
to examine
simple change using the same elements and constructs and how to
research messy
change where new constructs or elements need to be introduced.
Differences
between people are explored through "partnering" grids to see
different ways people construe a similar topic. A further technique,
the Exchange
Grid requires two participants to complete grids from the
perspective of the
other person, using the other person's constructs.
Overall, the book gives a clear account
of
the technical and theoretical aspects of the repertory grid technique,
grid
analysis and interpretation. It covers a range of variations on this
theme in a
creative and accessible way. I have used the easy guide to teach
Clinical
Psychology trainees and PCP Foundation Course students. I have found
that
students respond well to the book’s sensible approach and want to
experiment
with the technique rather than discard it as too hard. Professor
Jankowicz has
obviously taken students' construction processes into account when
writing this
book and laid the groundwork for them to move towards using repertory
grids as
a feasible and pleasurable part of their repertoire of research
methods.
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REFERENCE
Allen, D. (2005). Review of: Jankowicz, D. (2004). The easy guide to repertory grids. Chichester:
Wiley. Personal Construct Theory & Practice, 2, 15.
(Retrieved from http://www.pcp-net.org/journal/pctp05/allen-jankowicz05.html)
Contact: diane.allen@coventrypct.nhs.uk
Diane Allen, Coventry Psychological Services, Gulson Hospital,
Coventry, UK
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Received: 7 Nov 2005 - Accepted: 17 Nov 2005 -
Published: 8 Nov 2005 |
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