indexConflict2: Conflict measure for grids (Bassler et al., 1992) based on...

In OpenRepGrid: Tools to analyse repertory grid data

Description

The function calculates the conflict measure as devised by Bassler et al. (1992). It is an improved version of the ideas by Slade and Sheehan (1979) that have been implemented in the function indexConflict1. The new approach also takes into account the magnitude of the correlations in a traid to assess whether it is balanced or imbalanced. As a result, small correlations that are psychologically meaningless are considered accordingly. Also, correlations with a small magnitude, i. e. near zero, which may be positive or negative due to chance alone will no longer distort the measure (Bassler et al., 1992).

Usage

indexConflict2(x, crit=0.03, digits=1, output=1)

Arguments

x	repgrid object.
crit	Sensitivity criterion with which triads are marked as unbalanced. A bigger values willl lead to less imbalanced triads. The default is 0.03. The value should be adjusted with regard to the researchers interest.
digits	Numeric. Number of digits to round to (default is 1).
output	Numeric. The output printed to the console. output=1 (default) will print information about the conflicts to the console. output=2 will additionally print the conflictive triads. output=0 will surpress the output.

Details

Description of the balance / imbalance assessment:

1. Order correlations of the triad by absolute magnitude, so that r_max > r_mdn > r_min.

2. Apply Fisher's Z-transformation and devision by 3 to yield values between 1 and -1

3. Check whether the triad is balanced by assessing if the following relation holds:

   • If Z_max x Z_mdn > 0, the triad is balanced if Z_{max} Z_{mdn} - Z_{min} <= crit Z_max x Z_mdn - Z_min <= crit .

   • If Z_max x Z_mdn < 0, the triad is balanced if Z_{min} - Z_{max} Z_{mdn} <= crit Z_min - Z_max x Z_mdn <= crit .

NOTE: (MH) I am a bit suspicious about step 2. To devide by 3 appears pretty arbitrary. The r for a z-values of 3 is 0.9950548 and not 1. The r for 4 is 0.9993293. Hence, why not a value of 4, 5, or 6? Denoting the value to devide by with a, the relation for the first case translates into a Z_{max} Z_{mdn} <= \frac{crit}{a} + Z_{min} a x Z_max x Z_mdn =< crit/a + Z_min. This shows that a bigger value of a will make it more improbabale that the relation will hold.

Author(s)

Mark Heckmann

References

Bassler, M., Krauthauser, H., & Hoffmann, S. O. (1992). A new approach to the identification of cognitive conflicts in the repertory grid: An illustrative case study. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 5(1), 95-111.

Slade, P. D., & Sheehan, M. J. (1979). The measurement of 'conflict' in repertory grids. British Journal of Psychology, 70(4), 519-524.

See Also

See indexConflict1 for the older version of this measure; see indexConflict3 for a measure based on distances.

Examples

## Not run: 

indexConflict2(bell2010)


## End(Not run)

OpenRepGrid documentation built on May 2, 2019, 4:54 p.m.