Construing Colours Using Repertory Grid Technique: an Idiographic Approach in Colour Perception

Abstract

This article offers an alternative methodological approach to the exploration of subjective experiences by studying individuals' personal views of perceived colours. The study aims to investigate the construals of individuals related to perceived colours using an idiographic approach. The subjective approach proposed is based on the theory of personal construct psychology and the methodology of the repertory grid technique. A repertory grid experiment was conducted to determine individuals' ways of construing colours and examine the collective understanding of the content and structure of individuals' construals concerning perceived colours. Sixty undergraduate students participated in the experiment, yielding 60 different repertory grids that included a number of personal constructs indicating the construal process of participants in differentiating between 11 basic colours. Participants produced their own semantic bipolar dimensions for comparing the perceived colours and creating differential ratings according to their personal constructs. The elicited data were evaluated using qualitative content analysis to understand the differences between individual systems of constructs and investigate the commonality of shared constructs relating to colours. The data were also analyzed quantitatively to investigate the common structure of and interrelationship between elicited constructs and perceived colours. The outcomes have the potential to contribute to academic and practical knowledge concerning colour perception, as well as encouraging further studies with an idiographic approach.