Research Methods: Self Characterisation Kelly

SELF CHARACTERISATION

Kelly’s original instructions:

‘I want you to write a character sketch of yourself, just as if you were the principal character in a play.

Write it as it might be written by a friend who knows you very intimately and very sympathetically, perhaps better than anyone ever really could know you.

Be sure to write it in the third person. For example start out by saying “ John  is….”

Variations on self-characterisation

A client may be asked to write a self-characterisation about a specific aspect of self – for example: ‘Self in the future’, ‘Self without my problem’  or self in a particular role such as mother or teacher.

We can also ask for paired characterisations, for example ‘current self and ideal self’, or ‘confident self and its opposite’.

We need to be clear about our purpose, and remember that we are aiming to gather data and form tentative hypotheses for further exploration, not to find specific answers.

NOTES ON ANALYSIS OF SELF-CHARACTERISATION              

‘The object of this enquiry is to see how the client structures the world in relation to which he must maintain himself in some kind of role. It is his personal construct system in which we are interested. Secondly in where he places himself with respect to the personal categories and dimensions which structure his world.  Least of all do we have interest in where he would hit or miss in placing himself in a world we would structure for him’ (Kelly 1955)

* Begin by asking the client his/her experience of writing it. What was the most important thing about it.

*  Look at the overall organisation eg. is it written chronologically, is it located in the past or the present, or in a the form of ‘lists’ of attributes….etc.

*  Note how it begins and ends. Is there a link? What sense would the first sentence make if it stood alone?

*  How would it read if we changed the emphasis –

Alice is a strong woman   or

Alice is a strong woman   or

Alice is a strong woman

*  What are the major themes and preoccupations expressed?

*  Are particular events highlighted?

*  In what life roles does the client describe him/herself? In what contexts?

*  Do particular people figure strongly as validators or invalidators?

*  Is the writing problem-focused?

*  Note any explicit constructs or poles of constructs. Are they concrete and physicalistic, philosophical or psychological?

*  What sort of imagery is used to describe the person or problem?

*  Is there a sense of having changed, or of wanting to change?

*  Note any apparent contradictions. Which aspects are less clear? Which constructs are ‘in motion’?

*  Does there seem to be a notion of things being under any particular control eg. Fate, God.

*  Does the writing contain ideas as to what the client expects of their work with you?

PCPA 2007

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