Hi, Chris,
My PhD thesis was based on Brian Little's model of Personal Projects
Analysis (PPA). It is based directly in PCP, but generally provides 17
standard "constructs" that are applied to idiographically-generated
"elements," the latter being personal projects in which the subject is
currently engaged. The argument is that meaningful measurement
provides access to both the normative and idiographic levels, and is
analyzable & interpretable at either level. My work was, in part, an
attempt to demonstrate that various statistical procedures can provide
a basis for estimating when N=1, given adequate data.
My dissertation covered several problems, but perhaps most relevant to
you is that there is a common structure to any intercorrelation matrix
of the 17 standard dimensions that have been used in PPA research,
whether the correlations are based on 10 projects from 1 subject, 10
projects randomly put together from different people, all the raw
project-level data ignoring subject, or even means taken within
subjects and factor-analyzed or subjected to MDS. This brings it
closer to the work of Simon, IMHO, in that an identifiable cognitive
structure is present in project data which functions fairly
independently of individual cases. The methodological issues of
establishing a cognitive generality from PCP data are discussed with
reference to the need for "provided" constructs, and are relevant to
the issue of linking PCP with any such research. E-mail me directly if
you want an electronic copy of my thesis.
P.S. any jobs coming up at Auckland in Psych. that you've heard of?
My wife & I are keen on the idea of moving down under!
cheers,
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Travis Gee () tgee@superior.carleton.ca ()
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"In science, the more we know the more extensive the
contact with nescience." -Spencer
<A><A HREF="mailto:tgee@superior.carleton.ca">MAIL</A>
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