repertory grid
Definition:
An approach to the development of scales for evaluating the salience of particular factors within a respondent's perception of and attitude towards a specified object developed by the psychologist G.A. Kelly; hence Kelly Repertory Grid. Kelly's theory is founded on the hypothesis that every individual seeks to evaluate stimuli in terms of his own personal constructs and that he does so within a grid or framework in which the dimensions are bipolar constructs. However, the approach differs from the SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL in which the researcher defines the constructs, and invites the respondent to select the point on the scale which reflects his opinion or attitude, in that the object is used as the stimulus and the respondent is invited to define its characteristics. The method is particularly appropriate both for developing products and for ensuring that the vocabulary used to promote them is meaningful to the intended audience. Administration of the technique is straightforward and involves presenting the respondent with three cards drawn from a pack which list all the types or brands of product under investigation and known to the respondent, (hence 'Kelly trial' and 'Three Card Trick'). The subject is then asked to select the odd one out of the three and verbalize the basis for this discrimination, e.g. Brand A might be seen as expensive compared with Brands B and C. The cards are then shuffled and the process repeated except that the respondent is not allowed to use price as the basis for discrimination again. Through successive administrations the subject eventually exhausts his vocabulary through which he has been projecting his attitudes and so provides the bipolar constructs on which the products are to be compared. Having defined these the respondent is then invited to rate each individual product in much the same way as he would on a semantic differential test. By conducting the test with a sample of 30-40 subjects it is possible to select those dimensions which occur most frequently and so may be regarded as salient in the consumer's choice decision.
Cross-References:
[semantic differential]
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© Westburn Publishers Ltd 2002, The Westburn Dictionary of Marketing edited by Michael J Baker, ISBN 978-0-946433-01-8. www.themarketingdictionary.com. Entry: [Michael J. Baker], [1998].