scholarly journals A Novel Use of Honey’s Aggregation Approach to the Analysis of Repertory Grids

Field Methods ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Rojon ◽  
Almuth McDowall ◽  
Mark N. K. Saunders

This article examines and appraises a novel approach for generating shared group constructs through aggregative analysis: the application of Honey’s aggregation procedure to repertory grid technique (RGT) data. Revisiting personal construct theory’s underlying premises and adopting a social constructivist epistemology, we argue that, while “implicit theories” of the world, elicited via RGT, are unique to individuals, the constructs on which they are founded may be shared collectively. Drawing on a study of workplace performance, we outline a protocol for this novel use of Honey’s approach, demonstrating how it can be utilized to generate shared constructs inductively to facilitate theory building. We argue that, unlike other grid aggregation processes, the approach does not compromise data granularity, offering a useful augmentation to traditional idiographic approaches examining individual-level constructs only. This approach appears especially suited to addressing complex and implicit topics, where individuals struggle to convey thoughts and ideas.

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Williams ◽  
Anatoli Karypidou ◽  
Catherine Steele ◽  
Lorna Dodd

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to adopt the perspective of personal construct theory to conceptualise employability. The study explores differences in the implicit employability theories of those involved in developing employability (educators) and those selecting and recruiting higher education (HE) students and graduates (employers).Design/methodology/approachA repertory grid technique (RGT) was employed to uncover the implicit theories of 22 employers and 14 educators across the UK.FindingsA total of 717 constructs were elicited. A differential analysis of data gathered demonstrated several areas of consensus among employers and educators (including emotional management, confidence, professionalism), as well as divergence in representations of commitment, proactivity, interpersonal competencies and vision to the conceptualisation of employability.Practical implicationsFindings from this analysis indicate a need to integrate group process assessments within undergraduate programmes and recruitment procedures.Originality/valueThis study represents a personal construct approach to employability, utilising the unique value of RGT to further inform our understanding of employability within an HE context. This study contributes to an understanding of employability as a continually re-constructed concept. This study provides insights to its nature via two information rich cases that have extensive knowledge on the topic.


1965 ◽  
Vol 111 (479) ◽  
pp. 977-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Bannister

All forms of Repertory Grid technique are derivatives of an original proposed by G. A. Kelly (1955) as an integral part of the development of Personal Construct Theory (summarized Bannister, 1962). In essence, repertory grids are forms of sorting test. They differ from conventional sorting tests in that there are no standard sorting materials or sorting categories nor is there any standard single form of administration or scoring procedure. Their unique characteristics are that:


Author(s):  
Miikka Palvalin ◽  
Maiju Vuolle ◽  
Aki Jääskeläinen ◽  
Harri Laihonen ◽  
Antti Lönnqvist

Purpose – New Ways of Working (NewWoW) refers to a novel approach for improving the performance of knowledge work. The purpose of this paper is to seek innovative solutions concerning facilities, information technology tools and work practices in order to be able to “work smarter, not harder.” In order to develop work practices toward the NewWoW mode there is a need for an analytical management tool that would help assess the status of the organization’s current work practices and demonstrate the impacts of development initiatives. This paper introduces such a tool. Design/methodology/approach – Constructive research approach was chosen to guide the development of the Smart ways of working (SmartWoW) tool. The tool was designed on the basis of previous knowledge work performance literature as well as on interviews in two knowledge-intensive organizations. The usefulness of the tool was verified by applying it in four organizations. Findings – SmartWoW is a compact questionnaire tool for analyzing and measuring knowledge work at the individual level. The questionnaire consists of four areas: work environment, personal work practices, well-being at work and productivity. As SmartWoW is a standardized tool its results are comparable between organizations. Research limitations/implications – SmartWoW was designed a pragmatic managerial tool. It is considered possible that it can be valuable as a research instrument as well but the current limited amount of collected data does not yet facilitate determining its usefulness from that perspective. Originality/value – This paper makes a contribution to the existing literature on knowledge work measurement and management by introducing an analytical tool which takes into account the NewWoW perspective.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debi Ashenden

Purpose The purpose of this study is to uncover employee attitudes towards information security and to address the issue of social acceptability bias in information security research. Design/methodology/approach The study used personal construct psychology and repertory grids as the foundation for the study in a mixed-methods design. Data collection consisted of 11 in-depth interviews followed by a survey with 115 employee responses. The data from the interviews informed the design of the survey. Findings The results of the interviews identified a number of themes around individual responsibility for information security and the ability of individuals to contribute to information security. The survey demonstrated that those employees who thought the that organisation was driven by the need to protect information also thought that the risks were overstated and that their colleagues were overly cautious. Conversely, employees who thought that the organisation was driven by the need to optimise its use of information felt that the security risks were justified and that colleagues took too many risks. Research limitations/implications The survey findings were not statistically significant, but by breaking the survey results down further across business areas, it was possible to see differences within groups of individuals within the organisation. Originality/value The literature review highlights the issue of social acceptability bias and the problem of uncovering weakly held attitudes. In this study, the use of repertory grids offers a way of addressing these issues.


Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil P Rowen ◽  
Daniel Kim ◽  
Hannah P Rayala ◽  
Andrew H Reiter ◽  
Wayne D Rosamond

Background: The AHA’s definition of cardiovascular health (CVH) is based on seven metrics known as Life’s Simple 7 (LS7): smoking, diet, obesity, physical inactivity, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Although used to evaluate CVH at the national and individual level, its use as a local county-level measure of CVH has not yet been studied. Our objective was to create a modification of LS7 using publicly available data to estimate county-level CVH and to determine its association with CVH outcomes in all 100 counties of North Carolina (NC). Methods and Results: Using data on all the LS7 metrics collected by the CDC, USDA, BRFSS, and Community Health Assessments, we created a Modified LS7 scoring system, calculated scores for all 100 counties in NC, and created a regression model that predicts county-level hospital discharge rates for diseases and disorders of the circulatory system (Figure 1). Modified LS7 scores ranged from 60.8 to 80.6 (median = 73.1, SD = 3.9). Hospital discharge rates per 100,000 population ranged from 753.4 to 2223.4 (median = 1345.6, SD = 328.7). We found a negative correlation (R-squared = 0.610) between Modified LS7 scores and county-level hospital discharge rates. Counties in the mountain and piedmont regions had significantly higher mean Modified LS7 scores (74.3, 95% CI: 73.5-75.2; 73.9, 95% CI: 72.8-75.0) and lower mean discharge rates (1167.1, 95% CI: 1074.7-1259.5; 1273.9, 95% CI: 1181.4-1366.2) than counties in the coastal plains region (70.7, 95% CI: 69.4-72.0; 1612.3, 95% CI: 1518.5-1706.1). Studentized residuals and leverage points were used to identify five low performing counties and two high performing counties of interest for further analyses. Conclusions: The coastal region of NC was found to have significantly higher CVH risk and poorer CVH outcomes compared to the piedmont and mountain regions. The Modified LS7 model provides a novel approach to examine county-level variation in CVH that had previously only been reported at the national, state or individual level.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 638
Author(s):  
Ivana Tlak Gajger ◽  
Josipa Vlainić ◽  
Petra Šoštarić ◽  
Janez Prešern ◽  
Jernej Bubnič ◽  
...  

Several negative factors contribute to a decline in the number of insect pollinators. As a novel approach in therapy, we hypothesize that the EM® for bees could potentially have an important therapeutic and immunomodulatory effect on honey bee colonies. The aim of our study was to evaluate its impact on honey bees at the individual and colony level. This is the first appliance of the commercial probiotic mix EM® PROBIOTIC FOR BEES in honey bees as economically important social insects. The sugar syrup with 10% of probiotic was administered by spraying or feeding the honey bee colonies in the field conditions, in order to evaluate the infection levels with spores of Nosema spp. and colonies’ strength. Moreover, in laboratory-controlled conditions, in the hoarding cages, adult workers have been fed with sugar syrup supplemented with 2.5, 5, and 10% of EM® for bees for biochemical and immunological analyses of hemolymph, and with 5 and 10% for measuring the size of hypopharyngeal glands. It was found that following the EM® for bees administration the Nosema spp. spore counts in colonies were significantly reduced, and colonies’ strength was increased. The results at the individual level showed significant positive physiological changes in treated groups of adult bees, revealing at the same time a higher mortality rate when feeding sugar syrup supplemented with the probiotic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Inês Neves ◽  
Joanne P. Webster ◽  
Martin Walker

Abstract Background Sibship reconstruction is a form of parentage analysis that can be used to identify the number of helminth parental genotypes infecting individual hosts using genetic data on only their offspring. This has the potential to be used for estimating individual worm burdens when adult parasites are otherwise inaccessible, the case for many of the most globally important human helminthiases and neglected tropical diseases. Yet methods of inferring worm burdens from sibship reconstruction data on numbers of unique parental genotypes are lacking, limiting the method’s scope of application. Results We developed a novel statistical method for estimating female worm burdens from data on the number of unique female parental genotypes derived from sibship reconstruction. We illustrate the approach using genotypic data on Schistosoma mansoni (miracidial) offspring collected from schoolchildren in Tanzania. We show how the bias and precision of worm burden estimates critically depends on the number of sampled offspring and we discuss strategies for obtaining sufficient sample sizes and for incorporating judiciously formulated prior information to improve the accuracy of estimates. Conclusions This work provides a novel approach for estimating individual-level worm burdens using genetic data on helminth offspring. This represents a step towards a wider scope of application of parentage analysis techniques. We discuss how the method could be used to assist in the interpretation of monitoring and evaluation data collected during mass drug administration programmes targeting human helminthiases and to help resolve outstanding questions on key population biological processes that govern the transmission dynamics of these neglected tropical diseases.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document