Laddering: theoretical and methodological foundations, research contingencies
and problems.
Bernie Closs*, Paula Eustace**, Jacqui Costigan**
* School of Nursing, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, **School
of Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora (Australia)
Abstracts
Kelly set the theoretical precedent for laddering, essentially in his
Organization Corollary and also in the Choice and Modulation corollaries.
Hinkle established a methodological laddering prototype; he elicited eight
to 12 hierarchically ordered constructs from 28 student respon-dents which
appeared to confirm Kelly's ordination and related premises. Although several
personal construct psychology experts provide guidelines for laddering
up and pyramiding down construct hierarchies, some therapists and researchers
have demonstrated that construct systems are not structured in an orderly
way as had been assumed. In an in-depth study of psychiatric nurses, Closs
found that although the laddering procedure went smoothly, there were marked
individual differences among her respondents and few produced as many con-struct
levels as Hinkle found. Eustace studied critical care nurses, starting
with relatively high order constructs extracted from self characterisations;
although her laddering data were richly elaborative, there was no vertical
movement towards further higher order constructs. It seems that successful
laddering needs to account for the point at which it begins, the context
in which it is studied and individual differences among respondents' levels
of self awareness and professional experience. Moreover, our findings support
those of others which indicate that, even when expert guidelines are adhered
to, neatly ordered structures cannot be assumed.
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