On Propositional Constructs

 

Propositional Constructs Describe the Objective Properties of the Elements

A propositional construct is one which describes the objective properties of the elements - such as male-female, old-young, new-old, business class-coach, etc. Because they’re objective properties of the elements, about which nobody would seriously disagree, they don’t tell you much, by themselves, about how the interviewee experiences or feels about the elements. For almost all Grid purposes, you want to get into perceptions and feelings, not objective descriptions. For this reason, some people say that propositional constructs don’t matter, or they should be discarded when you move to the real stuff.

They Get New Interviewees Started

However, the reality is more complex than that. Firstly, when you introduce a stranger to the process of construct elicitation, comparing two against one, they’re quite likely to begin by giving you propositional constructs because they’re getting used to the two-against-one process. Experienced Gridders sometimes forget how unusual that question can feel when you’ve never been asked it before. So you can expect some propositional constructs at the start of the interview.

Getting some propositional constructs at the start of the interview is nothing to worry about; the priority is to get the interviewee used to how Grid marshals their thinking. Then you can suggest or re-emphasise your qualifying question, e.g. ‘Now for these three, can you do the same but think about how you personally feel about them?’.

Most people can then move into personal constructs - evaluative, sensory, behavioural, whatever you want for your purpose.

But if someone gets stuck on propositional constructs and doesn’t seem to be able to get more personal, then you need to wonder why. Now, because Grid is free from interviewer bias, it is also impossible to fake (try giving me a construct that isn’t yours). So if the person’s unhappy with the contract, doesn’t trust you, is under stress, or feels that they’ve been ‘bounced’ into giving a lot of personal information too quickly, their only choices are silence or propositional constructs. Which means that you should think about these issues - trust, stress, relationships, timing - and check the interviewee’s comfort level.

They Can Be Useful in Their Own Right

Propositional constructs can be useful in their own right, once you start to analyse the data and look at the other constructs correlated with them. (You’ll also see the first stage of this when you ladder down). To take an obvious example, if you were interviewing someone about television programmes as part of a market research project, with programmes as elements, you’ll probably get a propositional construct like documentary-entertainment. You need to know the personal constructs associated with this propositional one: how does the person perceive documentary programmes differently from entertainment programmes?

So - don’t look down on propositional constructs. They can send you messages about the interviewee’s comfort level, and they will show you the links between the objective and subjective world.

Prepared by Dr Valerie Stewart

Search this Site

---

Suggestions

• Download a free evaluation copy of Enquire Within here
• Email this page to a colleague.
• Post this page to: del.icio.us
• Want to know more? Join the experts at the RepGrid User Group.
• Want to keep in touch? Join our mailing list.
• A detailed log of developments at Enquire Within is at http://twitter.com/EnquireWithin. Join us there.
• Translate this page to your language? Try Google Toolbar.

Back to Hints Index