Advancing the Use of the Repertory Grid Technique in the Built Environment: A Scoping Review

Personal Construct Theory (PCT) is a theory of personality and cognition developed by George Kelly in the 1950s. Since its development, the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) has been the most recognized analytical instrument used to elicit personal constructs. Using RGT was not limited to researchers and practitioners within the field of psychology, but also common across a variety of disciplines and approaches. Although RGT was found to be a viable scientific and practical method, its utilization was very limited in the field of the built environment. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide an informed summary on the use of RGT and explore its potential in the built environment. This study followed the PRISMA-ScR guidelines for scoping reviews. A structured literature search was conducted to identify relevant studies between 1965-2020 on Scopus. The findings were charted according to subject area, location, year of publication, and scope. 782 studies using RGT as a research method were identified to contribute to more than twenty-four different subject areas, widely published in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia, and show an increase in publication since 1965. Among these studies, only 35 studies were within the scope of the built environment and can be grouped into few main topics according to their aim and keywords. Results indicated the validity of RGT as a scientific research method and implied the extended efforts in the development of Kelly's PCT and its associated tools in different research fields. However, RGT was still an underused scientific method in the built environment and only few researchers were advantaging from RGT's potential. Hence, this review strongly recommended advancing the use of RGT in the built environment and developing future innovations in this fast-paced field.