A PROPOSAL FOR A COMMON DATA EXCHANGE FORMAT FOR REPERTORY GRID DATA

Repertory grid interviews provide information about the psychological space of people in matrix-structured form, providing a basis for the statistical analysis of results. Today there are many software packages available for the elicitation and analysis of repertory grids, most of them with unique features. But access to this wealth of options is restricted because, at present, repertory grid programs store data in different formats. As a result, anyone who has tried to exchange data between programs knows that this is not an easy task, as the exchange typically requires tedious and error-prone reentering of the data. To enable direct and error-free data exchange between repertory grid programs, we propose a common data format for repertory grid software based on the Extended Markup Language (XML). It is important to note that users do not have to learn XML to take advantage of this common data format. Data sets of current analysis programs can be translated into XML by utilities. As a basis for further discussion we have developed sample applications and utilities that are based on this new data format.     

THE JOINT REPRESENTATION OF CONSTRUCTS AND ELEMENTS IN REPERTORY GRID DATA BY COMPONENT ANALYSIS: SLATER'S INGRID IS NOT THE BEST SOLUTION

The dominant method of analyzing repertory grid data in order to produce a joint spatial representation of constructs and elements has been Slater's INGRID procedure, often labeled "principal components" but more accurately described as a singular-value-­decomposition. This approach also involves centering the grid about construct means. In this article, it is shown that this removes a relationship between construct means and first component loadings for constructs. It is also shown, however, that a strong relationship between element means and element first component loadings remains. Ways of overcoming this problem are examined.     

高级技工诊断生产活动的认知策略的汇编栅格法研究

本研究采用汇编栅格法探讨了高级技工(专家)诊断人机系统生产活动的认知策略,结果表明:第一,在高级技工的认知结构中,存在着对多因素交互作用下复杂情况进行诊断的认知地图,它以特定方式组合着常见的问题类型和原因特征,是制约技工复杂技能教学成效的关键要素。第二,汇编栅格法是对人机系统中专家的认知结构进行功能模拟的一种有效方法,它不仅在揭示未知的高级技工认知结构时,以其直观的投射方式提供专家启发式策略的新信息,而且在培训和评估复杂技能方面具有可观的应用前景。     

PERCEIVING CINEMATIC EPISODES: A CROSS-CULTURAL REPERTORY GRID STUDY OF A NARRATIVE FILM SEGMENT*

Film theory has advanced concepts for explaining how it is possible for film viewers to understand what they are seeing. Many of these concepts strongly imply that the production of meaning of a film lies within the film itself - the viewer's role being reduced to that of passive spectator. This study tests that assumption using a repertory grid analysis of constructs elicited from Australian and Hong Kong Chinese subjects as they interpreted a segment of a commercial film. The results showed that the Australian sample construed more emotionally than did the Hong Kong Chinese, who responded more at the level of the film's characterisation. They were also more specific in their construals while the Australians were more diffuse. Further analysis suggested that differences between the two groups were the result of judgments about different attributes of the film, rather than because of different patterns of construing. It was concluded that since there are major differences in the two groups' interpretations of the same film, in the field of film/spectator studies where semiotics and psychology come together, the repertory grid analysis is a useful research tool.     

THE EFFECT OF REPERTORY GRID SCALE SIZE AND RATING DIRECTION ON STRUCTURAL MEASURES OF DIFFERENTIATION

Previous work by Soldz and Soldz (1989) indicated that variations in repertory grid features can have a significant impact on the interpretation of the Landfield Functionally Independent Construction Score (FIC), which is a measure of cognitive differentiation. In this study, we showed that four different grid measures (FIC, Total number of zeroes, and the number of midpoint ratings used to indicate either equality or nonapplicability) can be effected by the use of a certain scale size (3-point, 7-point, 13-point), and by the direction of administration (completing the grid in a downwards direction vs. an across-wise direction). In addition, correlations between the number of zero ratings and the total FIC scores for each of the different scale sizes and directions showed evidence to support and to qualify previous work conducted by Soldz and Soldz (1989). In general, high positive correlations were found, suggesting the impact of zero ratings on FIC scores. But the magnitude of the correlations between the zero ratings and the total FIC scores varied as a function of the scale size, the direction of administration, and the meaning of the zero rating (neutrality vs. nonapplicability), raising theoretical, as well as procedural, considerations for future repertory grid research.     

A STUDY OF THE GRAPEVINE IN A GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION

The purposes of this investigation were to replicate a classic study of the grapevine reported by Davis in 1953, and to extend the results by obtaining personality data (Bass Orientation Inventory scores) on the subjects. The present study was carried out in a state government unit with 79 employees. Davis’“ecco analysis” method was used to study the flow of information through the grapevine. Nine grapevine items were investigated with respect to where, when, and how the subjects had learned of the information. Two of Davis’ findings–the relatively small percentage of in-dividuals functioning in a liaison capacity in disseminating any particular item of information, and the positive relationship between grapevine knowledge and an individual's level in the organizational hierarchy–were confirmed. Two other findings of Davis–relating to the degree of within-unit vs. between-unit spread of information, and the degree of individual consistency in functioning as liaisons–were not confirmed. Again, it should be stressed that, while Davis’ study was concerned with communication within the managerial force of a manufacturing concern, the present study was carried out in a governmental organization and involved personnel from both the managerial and the rank-and-file levels. Thus, because of the particular nature of the samples in each of the two investigations, any generalizations about the operation of grapevines in organizations need to be stated with extreme caution.     

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF PREDICTIVE JUDGMENTS IN A TRAFFIC SITUATION

Observers seated in a car were required to predict where they would meet an oncoming car (Exp. I). Meeting point predictions were found to be systematically biased in the direction of the midpoint between cars. The error was proportional to the distance between midpoint and meeting point. A reduction in the errors occurred when the observers were allowed to check their predictions (Exp. II). Perfect agreement was found to hold between subjective midpoint judgments (Exp. III) and meeting point predictions, the former showing a small but obvious regression toward the meeting point.     

组织决策的影响力分布

从行动理论的角度分析了组织决策的特征,提出了组织决策的阶段层次理论,并认为：１．决策过程的本质在于形成决策问题的目标手段层次结构;２．决策的层次结构具有阶段性特征,即它是随决策阶段的进展而逐步分化、完善的;３．组织在其结构上也是一个由分化得来的层次结构。因此,在组织决策过程中,应该根据决策的阶段特征,充分发挥相应组织层次的作用。关于各决策阶段组织影响力分布的调查得到了与理论模型一致的结果,有决策影响力的群体随决策阶段的展开而分化：在决策阶段一直存在两个决策影响力群体,一个是高层管理,另一个是中层管理、基层管理和工人;而在决策阶段二和三,中层管理逐步分化出来,成为第三个独立的影响力群体;在决策阶段四,基层管理代表工人参与决策的作用得到了充分的显示。此外,本研究结果还指出了高层管理在后三个阶段中对组织决策影响力分布的决定作用     

A THEORY OF SOCIAL ACTION: WHY PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY NEEDS A SUPERPATTERN COROLLARY

Kelly's Commonality and Sociality corollaries deal with shared meanings. In this article, the authors revisit Kelly's early work on superpatterns to demonstrate the relationship between superpatterns and the concept of corporate construing (Balnaves & Caputi, 1993) as a way of extending the Commonality and Sociality corollaries. The authors argue that corporate construing is joint action. Constructs in such an action originate from corporate, not personal, agents. Corporate agency entails anticipation in joint action of the mode of representation of everyone else (sensus communis), justification of the joint action (reasons as good reasons), recognition that a personal action is corporate (the same) within a style of reasoning (a system of specialized techniques or corporate constructs). It is not the individual patterns of personal constructs, or an individual's interpretations of his or her own actions, that is relevant in an explanation of personal actions. It is an understanding of the genre, the overall template, the superpattern.     

DIFFUSION OF POWER-RELATED DATA IN COMMUNICATION: A RESEARCH NOTE

Statistical power is viewed as an innovation, and its development within the communication discipline is examined. The results of three statistical power analyses are reported, and a comparison of the resultant power estimates is conducted. Using the medium population effect as a baseline, the average statistical power exhibited in communication research has increased. Although it is too early to identify statistical power analysis as the primary antecedent, these surveys have certainly performed a knowledge function in the diffusion of power-related data.     

COMMITMENT IN AGE-GAP HETEROSEXUAL ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS: A TEST OF EVOLUTIONARY AND SOCIO-CULTURAL PREDICTIONS

Little research has addressed age-gap romantic relationships (romantic involvements characterized by substantial age differences between partners). Drawing on evolutionary and socio-cultural perspectives, the present study examined normative beliefs and commitment processes among heterosexual women involved in age-gap and age-concordant relationships. Results indicated that woman-older partners were the most satisfied with and committed to their relationships, relative to woman-younger and similarly aged partners, consistent with socio-cultural predictions. Additional analyses revealed that satisfaction, alternatives, investments, and normative beliefs accounted for differing degrees of variance in the prediction of commitment among age-gap and similarly aged partners, with greater explained variance among partners of similar ages. Thus, among female heterosexual age-gap partners, factors beyond traditional predictors of commitment may be important in understanding the maintenance of these relationships.     

THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF A WORK SAMPLE: A LABORATORY STUDY

Concurrent and predictive test validity data and test-retest reliability data were obtained for a work sample performance measure and two paper and pencil tests in a laboratory setting. The work sample predicted performance on the criterion comparably with the two traditional paper and pencil tests for both concurrent and predictive validity conditions. The results of this study coupled with the inherent advantages of work samples for personnel selection offer a favorable prognosis for future research and application of work samples. The findings are interpreted in light of a behavioral consistency model and the practical utility of work samples as a personnel selection technique.     

QUANTUM AND CONSCIOUSNESS: IN SEARCH OF A NEW PARADIGM

Abstract. Two fundamental issues raised by Lothar Schäfer are considered: (1) the question of a suitable paradigm within which the findings of quantum physics can be optimally interpreted and (2) the question of the assessment of the presence and importance of mind and consciousness in the universe. In regard to the former, I contend that the ideal of science is to interpret its findings in an optimally consistent and minimally speculative framework. In this context Schäfer's assertion that certain findings in quantum physics (those that relate to virtual states) indicate the presence of mind at the quantum level implies a dualistic and hence unnecessarily speculative assumption. In regard to the assessment of mind and consciousness, a consistent and parsimonious paradigm suggests that mind and consciousness are not part of a chain of events consisting of an admixture of physical and mental events but that physical events form a single, coherent set of events, and mental events another set, with the two sets related, as Teilhard (and a number of other philosophers, including White head) affirmed, as the “within” and the “without” (or the “mental pole” and the “physical pole”) of one and the same fundamental reality. This panpsychist as contrasted with Schäfer's dualist paradigm provides a single self‐consistent framework for the interpretation of quantum (and all natural) events while recognizing the presence of mind in the universe as the least speculative realist implication of our immediate experience of consciousness.     

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE ANALYSIS OF DATA:

Abstract— We asked active psychological researchers to answer a survey regarding the following data-analytic issues: (a) the effect of reliability on Type I and Type II errors, (b) the interpretation of interaction, (c) contrast analysis, and (d) the role of power and effect size in successful replications. Our 551 participants (a 60% response rate) answered 59% of the questions correctly; 46% accuracy would be expected according to participants' response preferences alone. Accuracy was higher for respondents with higher academic ranks and for questions with "no" as the right answer. It is suggested that although experienced researchers are able to answer difficult but basic data-analytic questions at better than chance levels, there is also a high degree of misunderstanding of some fundamental issues of data analysis.     

POWER IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AS THE SUBJECT OF JUSTICE

Abstract: The paper suggests that the state is subject to assessment according to principles of social justice because state institutions or practices exercise forms of power over which no particular person has control. This rationale for assessment of social justice equally applies to legally optional or informal social practices. But it does not apply to individual conduct. Indeed, it follows that principles of social justice cannot provide a basis for the assessment and guidance of individual choice. The paper develops this practice‐based conception of the subject of justice by rejoining G. A. Cohen's influential critique of Rawls’ focus on the “basic structure” of society.     

语义联系类型和强度对预期推理生成的制约作用

首先采用开放式问卷实验方法,由被试生成日常生活中的事件以及组成这些事件的各种活动和活动的参加者。然后,对这些事件熟悉性、对活动的典型性和可区分性三个维度进行主观评价,形成事件以及每个事件活动序列,并据此编制实验材料。实验主要考察活动的典型性和可区分性对于熟悉性高的事件的预期推理的影响,以及不同工作记忆能力的被试进行事件预期推理时的加工模式。实验结果表明：（１）高工艺记忆能力的被试对事件的预期量小于     

ACCURACY OF COMMUNICATION FROM AN EXTERNAL PUBLIC TO EMPLOYEES IN A FORMAL ORGANIZATION

As publics of organizations become larger, better organized and more powerful, communication from these publics into organizations becomes essential if the organization is to adapt to this portion of its environment. This article uses Grunig's multisystems theory of organizational communication and McLeod and Chaffee's coorientation paradigm to conceptualize which employees of an organization will achieve the highest level of accuracy with an external public and then uses data from a study of a large business firm to test the conceptualization. Results show that accuracy occurs only when special combinations of conditions are present. The article concludes that organizations cannot leave external communication to the initiative of individual employees but must form a unit to do “systemic” research on the organization's relationship with its environment.