“… schools [and universities] are places for making mistakes, and eliminating them…”

Henry J Perkinson

BAM201 Research Skills

Session 2The repertory grid technique

Business and Management

Agenda

• The Piore extracts

• Questions/comments arising

from last week

• Repertory grid technique

Repertory Grid Technique

• List six places you have been on holiday or for a day trip

• Write clearly and legibly on a blank piece of paper

• List six brands you have used

Repertory Grid Technique

• List four friends or colleagues (exclude the people in this room)

• Add “myself” to the list

• Add “myself as I’d like to be” to the list

• Swap your lists with a partner

• You will take it in turns to be researchers and research subjects

Repertory Grid Technique

• I suggest one of you uses the list of people when you interview and the other should use the list of places

• Agree who will use which list when they take the role of interviewer

• Follow the instructions on the handout

Repertory Grid Technique

• This technique is intended to gain insight into the way the research subjects see the world

• It’s a way of avoiding imposing the researcher’s own views on the issue being researched

• It takes confidence and skill to use it effectively

• It can be enjoyable for both parties

Repertory Grid Technique

• An element is an object of an individual’s thinking– Eg, you think about your friends and

yourselves and yourselves as you’d like to be;

– you think about holiday locations

• A construct is a quality that can be attached to elements– Eg, your friend Q has bad breath;

– a holiday location enjoys great weather

Repertory Grid Technique

• For each pair of elements, find the absolute difference between the scores for each construct.

• Sum these differences and make a note.

• The pair of elements with the largest sum of differences is the pair that are most different in the eyes of your interviewee.

There is scope for a lot of analysis. Try this.

Myself and Elijah in the example table on the handout

Repertory Grid Technique

• For each pair of elements, find the absolute difference between the scores for each construct.

• Sum these differences and make a note.

• The pair of elements with the largest sum of differences is the pair that are most different in the eyes of your interviewee.

There is scope for a lot of analysis. Try this.

Myself and Elijah in the example table on the handout

Repertory Grid Technique

• Hankinson (2005) used the technique to research the views of business visitors about locations of business events such as conferences

• Fifteen locations were used as elements

• Event managers from 25 organizations were interviewed

• 264 constructs were elicited

Hankinson (2005) “Destination brand images: a business tourism perspective” Journal of Services Marketing

Inter-session tasks1. Review your work in session 2 on the

repertory grid technique

2. Do some thinking about the kinds of issues you could address using the repertory grid technique for the BAM201 assessment

3. Do some reading about interviewing for research

4. See the website