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research method' (Stewart and Stewart, 1981). It is also suggested by these authors that
the RepGrid technique '… enables one to interview someone in detail, extracting a good
deal of information … and to do this in such a way that input from the observer is re-
duced to zero' (Stewart and Stewart, 1981). The two main components of the RepGrid
are elements and constructs. Elements are entities within the research domain upon
which the research participant may be able to form an opinion. The constructs are the
research participant's interpretation of the elements within the same research domain.
The RepGrid technique has been employed in research areas beyond those for which it
was originally designed. It has been used for general problem construction and market
research (Bannister and Mair, 1968; Corsini and Marsella, 1983; Eden and Jones, 1984;
Eden and Wheaton, 1980; Fransella, 1981; Shaw, 1980) and for knowledge acquisition
for expert systems (Botten et al., 1989; Latta and Swigger, 1992; Phythian and King,
1992). Also, the RepGrid technique has been employed in a series of information systems
research projects (Hunter, 1993; Hunter and Beck, 1996; Hunter, 1997; Hunter and Beck,
2000). The research question related to determining how members of various groups
construe the skills and personal characteristics of 'excellent' systems analysts. That is,
the research attempted to document the personal construct system of research participants
within the domain of discourse relating to their experiences working with systems
analysts.
RepGrids were used during the interview process because they bring structure to the
interview while allowing flexibility and reducing researcher bias. It was considered
important to determine the interpretations of the research participants. Thus, it was
necessary to adopt a tool that emphasised gathering data from the research participant
while allowing the participant to determine the subject matter and content of the data.
This aspect is one of the advantages of the RepGrid technique.
RepGrids generate a large amount of rich, in-depth, qualitative and narrative data relating
to a research participant's explanation of an elicited construct. The documentation of
the research participant's explanations as interview notes forms the basis of the research
data. Detailed comments were recorded for each pole of the elicited construct. The re-
searcher determined a system of hierarchies for each construct, which depicted the rela-
tionships, within the interview notes, between an elicited construct at the RepGrid level
and a detailed action statement, at the interview note level. The interview notes were
obtained via the technique of Laddering whereby the researcher probes further regarding
the research participant's detailed interpretations of a general comment.
The initial project in this series was conducted in Canada. Subsequent replications were
carried out in Singapore and again in Canada. This data supported comments regarding
cross-cultural aspects of how the performance of 'excellent' systems analysts is inter-
preted. Hunter and his colleagues were able to determine, among a number of results,
that information systems professionals perceived 'excellent' systems analysts as being
process oriented, while business professionals viewed 'excellent' systems analysts as
those who were able to deliver content. Further, in the cross-cultural replication, the
Singapore research participants viewed 'excellent' systems analysts as experts, while
the Canadian research participants regarded 'excellent' systems analysts as coaches.
Narrative inquiry
Narrative inquiry documents '… a segment of one's life that is of interest to the narrator
and researcher' (Girden, 2001). It entails '… the symbolic presentation of a sequence of
events connected by subject matter and related by time' (Scholes, 1981). The narrative
inquiry approach facilitates documenting stories that are contextually rich and temporally
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