THINGS TO READ

If you really want to understand the theoretical background (and you should!),

the most readable, user-friendly, short account is in the following.

. Burr, V. & Butt, T. (1992) An Invitation to Personal Construct Psychology.

London: Whurr.

If you want to see an example of how the repertory grid as a technique in one

field of application is embedded in its background theory (personal construct

theory) but related to other theories which pertain to that field, a good

example is in knowledge management:

. Gaines, B. & Shaw, M. (1993) ‘Knowledge acquisition tools based on

personal construct psychology’. Knowledge Engineering Review 8, 49–85.

This paper is useful, and more conveniently obtained on the Web as

http://ksi.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/articles/KBS/KER/

If you’re using this book to learn grid technique for a dissertation or project,

you’ll probably find yourself needing to refer to George Kelly’s definitive book

at some stage, so you may as well check to see whether it’s available in the

library and, if not, order it now through inter-library loan.

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

The original 1955 text, long out of print, is also available in a second edition,

edited by Fay Fransella, published by Routledge in 1991. It’s the larger version

of Kelly’s theory, written from a strong clinical psychology perspective, but

very useful for anyone who is interested in personal development and change.

If you’re not particularly interested in clinical psychology, you may prefer to

look at the shorter version Kelly wrote, as follows:

. Kelly, G.A. (1963) A Theory of Personality: The Psychology of Personal

Constructs. London: Norton.