Creating a customised Identity Instrument

Aim: To create an identity instrument suitable for persons of any cultural, or mixed, heritage

The procedure follows through a sequence of simple steps under the control of the investigator. They are to

decide on the subject matter of the project
gather background information, using different sources to avoid crude stereotyping, from
- the local context for the project's participants
- the media, as in commentaries about like individuals and groups
- fieldwork, such as discussion groups and interviews, with similar people
- a review of 'the literature' on the subject matter, such as research reports
list the main themes emerging from this information, such as
- work and careers
- domestic responsibilities
- leisure
- fashion
- faith
- politics
- or whatever
list the domains of relevance to one or other theme, such as
- family and close friends (e.g., mum, dad, sibling, best friend)
- government (e.g., prime minister, politicians into sleaze, local council)
- community institutions (e.g., schools; NHS; the judiciary, media)
- or whatever
edit themes into phrases or discourse texts and seek out a contrast for each, so as to form two 'poles' of a 'bipolar construct' e.g., '... thinks rapping effectively talks to youngsters' contrasted with '...views rapping as misleading and promoting alienation in youngsters'
use the Ipseus editing facilities to create the customised identity instrument containing the above identified themes and domains, so that, in the matrix of themes and domains, the project participant has the opportunity to appraise the social world aspect by aspect, for example, thinking that 'my mum ~ views rapping as misleading and promoting alienation in youngsters', or 'my brother ~ thinks rapping effectively talks to youngster'.
Present the identity instrument on screen using Ipseus, one aspect at a time made up of a domain entity and the contrasting phrases

The screen is simple to use; it looks like this:

Sample Screen

Because identity instruments use ISA definitions of psychological concepts, when they are created using Ipseus, they are structured in a way that conforms to these definitions. Ipseus uniquely ascertains the identity processes of the individual in accordance with ISA concepts.