USING REPERTORY GRID TECHNIQUE TO FORM A LIST OF SPECIALTIES REFLECTING PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS

A candidate for PhD degree B.Tulegenova

A candidate for PhD degree M.Korban

Girne American University, North Cyprus

Using Repertory Grid technique to form a list of specialties reflecting personal professional aspirations of prospective applicants

Abstract

The most common method of acquisition the knowledge from domain experts has been via interview. However, deeper knowledge can be elicited by using repertory grid method. Repertory grids technique, introduced by American psychologist George Kelli, based on the theory of personal constructs, which explain the ways how people builds their worldview in their own terms. In this paper we describe an efficient way to aid and guide an applicant to choose right profession. This involves analysis of the process of interviewing individuals that depends on the psychological relationship between the interests and capabilities of prospective students. This study aims to identify the factors influencing the choice of specialty, generation a report based on mathematical algorithms, which involve a list of hierarchical classification of more appropriate specialties.

Key words

repertory grid technique, indirect knowledge elicitation, personal constructs theory, cluster analysis

Introduction

Nowadays, among the many critical issues of socio-economic development of the country one of the most important is the problem of training highly qualified professionals in this fast-changing environment. Mostly students have chosen a specialty that does not meet their interests and their capabilities, cannot fully realize themselves in professional activities. Nature of the problem is that each freshman faces the problem of choosing the most appropriate specialty. It is very important to be honest and to develop realistic aspirations for future life in the profession. A lot of career tests and quizzes are presented on different web sites. Unfortunately, they do not provide information about what kind of methods were used and how the results were formed.

Repertory grids have been applied to a wide variety of domains, usually aimed at various kinds of heuristic classification. Their general applicability makes them very attractive in knowledge elicitation. The purpose of the paper is to produce a list of individual hierarchical classification of appropriate specialty based on mathematical algorithm which gives opportunity to be successful in future profession.

Methods and techniques to solve the problem

Repertory grid analysis is a technique adapted from a psychological theory of human cognition, personal constructs theory [1].

Techniques, termed indirect knowledge elicitation techniques, have been effectively applied in various spheres of human activity. This technique is used in situations where it is difficult to articulate knowledge in response to direct questions. It is also widely used in information technologies, for example to identify classification dimensions, user interface requirements, and decision-making criteria.

Repertory grid analysis was selected because it represented as well-researched method which has been proven to be effective in the elicitation of implicit, intuitive knowledge [3], and because it provides a rich source of data for other analysis.

Moreover it is easy to use, and the complex statistical software required for their application is readily available.

Data obtained by repertory grid analysis can be used directly, or can be further analyzed to reveal relationships and structures that might exist among the items (such as causal relationships), or can be a source of data for other indirect techniques [2]. For further analysis of the repertory grid matrix correlation and cluster analysis have been applied.

Data Collection and experimental study

The data collection process began with a brief interview in order to inform the teachers about the purpose of the project and to establish rapport. To identify the knowledge of teachers, the triadic methodology is used, where personal constructs are elicited by asking simple questions about similarities and differences between domain elements. The domain experts must be familiar enough with the selected elements so that they can readily answer questions. From these procedures the larger internal representations can be constructed. Attributes elicited from the teachers were combined and list of questions were constructed. This process yielded a total of 25 questions relevant presented specialties.

Students participating in the experiment answered the prepared questions.

Usually, repertory grid is a matrix that is filled during the interview. In our case, the matrix is filled by the student in dialogue with the computer. Columns of the matrix correspond to a certain group of elements - specialties. The rows of the matrix represent constructs - bipolar symptoms, parameters, scale and the like.

In the process of filling the repertory grid to assess student needs to estimate of each construct and in dialogue with a computer associate elements of the construct. There are two types of repertory grid data: the initial elicited constructs and the ratings of each entity along each constructs. The filled-in grid matrix represented another source of data. Grid gives the mathematical basis for analysis of relations between the constructs of the student, allows study in detail the individual subsystems of constructs, observe the specific structure of knowledge and attitudes of the student on the content proposed for the study specialties.

Findings were recorded on a portable computer. In the context of the project, the use of existing software was preferred, in part because it was faster and in part because it did not require subject training.

Limitations

While the initial phase of repertory grid analysis (the elicitation of entity differences and similarities) was very productive, the next phase (filling in the grid) proved to be difficult [2].

Many applicants did not fill in all attributes for their elements, so the matrix size was different for each of them. This missing data limited the number of statistical techniques that could be applied to the filled-in grid, e.g., principal components analysis and multiple regressions.

Conclusion

The study was conducted in the domain of right specialty choosing and the objective was to study about trends development of the motives of choice of profession, and creating a platform with clear and simple conceptual definitions which can manage choosing process more effectively.

The key point is using the effective knowledge elicitation technique: repertory grid analysis. The repertory grid method is powerful in obtaining the data, is easy to apply in the field, and well structured for the post-analysis and result interpretation. Analysis also appears to be more effective in constructs elicitation than direct interviewing techniques [4,5].

Overall, these findings have significant implications for each applicant and can be applied to other Educational Institutions.

References

1. Kelly G. (1955). The Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York: Norton.

2. Hudlicka E. (1996). Requirements Elicitation with Indirect Knowledge Elicitation Techniques: Comparison of Three Methods, GTE Laboratories.

3. Olson, J.R. and Biolsi, K. (1990). Techniques for Representing Expert Knowledge. University of ]Michigan Cognitive Science and Machine Intelligence Laboratory Technical Report 34. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan.

4. Geiwitz, I., Klatzky, R.L.. and McCloskey, B.P. (1988). Knowledge Acquisition Techniques for Expert Systems: Conceptual and Empirical Comparisons. Santa Barbara, CA: Anacapa Sciences, Inc.

5. Hudlicka, E., and Huggins. A.W.F. (1983). Application of Cognitive Science Techniques for Developing FAA, Inspection Indicators. BBN Technical Report No. 7940. Cambridge, UA: BBN. Inc.