CIRCLE 2.3 This software is a computerised implementation of Blackburn s interpersonal Circle. CIRCLE stands for Circumplex of Interpersonal Relationships in Closed Living Environments. Circle is based on the Interpersonal Circle (IPC). The norms were derived from Blackburn's high secure hospital sample. The most appropriate population is therefore patients, and inmates in secure ('forensic') settings. However, for the purposes of assessment, the main requirement is that the person is living in staffed accommodation. David Glasgow Why software? The interpersonal circumplex is a beautiful visualisation tool, but it is quite difficult to calculate the 'size' of octants, and very difficult to draw them. Many years ago, I spoke to the good Profesor Blackburn about this, and he told me how he had a favourite saucer he used to draw around to make the circumplex. That just didn't seem right, so I offered to write some software to take care of the difficult bits, and CIRCLE 2.3 is the result. CIRCLE 2.3-1
Unfortunately, we have not found a publisher for the software. The forensic market is too small, apparently. Also, the publishers are all chasing a business model whereby they can charge a fee per assessment, by having the software web-based, or submitted before central analysis. I'm afraid that I disagree with this as a matter of principle. My opinion is that psychologists making critical decisions about their client's lives should be able to track and make explicit the process by which raw scores are transformed into final results. Call me old-fashioned if you like. Anyway, for the last 5 or 6 years the CIRCLE software has been freely available for download from here. This will continue until a test publishing house sees the error of their ways, which of course may well be never. Origins of the interpersonal circle The Interpersonal Circle was influenced by Stack Sullivan, and pioneered by Leary. It consists of a 2 dimensional representation of social interactions. The IPC delineates the interpersonal domain by a model in which variables are ordered in a circular array, known in measurement theory as a circumplex. This has orthogonal cardinal dimensions of Dominance & Affiliation. The sample circumplex shown here displays the Octant labels adopted by CIRCLE and the corresponding 2 letter labels often used in the literature. CIRCLE 2.3-2
It is possible to represent interpersonal style as an angle and vector location. This can be seen on the line at aproximately 80 (marked by '1'). Origins of CIRCLE CIRCLE is unusual because it allows a graphic representation of interpersonal behaviour to be generated from behavioural ratings, as opposed to self report. This means that interpersonal style can be represented with repect to individuals unwilling or unable to complete self report psychometrics. CIRCLE has its origins in a 31-item Nurse Observation Scale (NOS) developed by Blackburn (1979) to assess common patient problems observable in an institutional setting. NOS was subsequently expanded to a 49-item scale (CIRCLE), in order to improve the sampling of interpersonal behaviours. It was revised and restandardised to form a 51 item questionnaire (Blackburn & Renwick, 1998) These consist of ratings made by two staff who know the person well, and which are combined to form the overall score. The value of CIRCLE The great advantage is that it gives a very clear and valid assessment on individuals who by virtue of their mental health problem or disability cannot or will not complete CIRCLE 2.3-3
paper and pencil assessments of personality. It has great value in risk assessment, because the hostile-coercive-dominant quadrant corresponds to antisocial personality traits. It also is a great tool for communicating likely interpersonal behaviour to nursing staff who may not be familiar with an individual, for example prior to a transfer or other accommodation move. Finally, because the octants are bi-polar, it is very easy to communicate the idea that the best way to bring about change is not to suppress and punish antisocial behaviour, but to promote the specific antithesis. Using CIRCLE The current version at the time of preparing this tutorial is 2.3 It is not yet available as a commercial product. However, it is freely downloadable as a fully featured time limited demonstartion. The expiry date is displayed on the first screen of the program, and is here marked '1'. The 'Use backdrop' option (mrked '2') simply alows the software to be used without the background programs and windows being seen behind the CIRCLE window. CIRCLE 2.3-4
The only point from which the program can be closed is the main screen, and the quit' button is marked '3'. The 'Unlock' button, marked '4' unlocks the software for use. If the expiry date has elapsed, then only 'load' and 'aggregate' options will be available. In other words, no new data entry will be possible. However, all previously administered CIRCLEs will be available for display, printiong andf for data management. To obtain an updated version of the software, contact me at david@i-psych.co.uk Subject details If you choose the enter data option, you'll be taken to a screen with just a few fields you may choose to fill in. The only mandatory one is that marked with red *, and this will be the name associated with the test results, so choose carefully. CIRCLE 2.3-5
Enter data Clicking the Continue button takes you to the first data entry screen. The blue 1 in a circle in the top left-hand corner indicates that you will be entering the data from rater one. You can see that in the first instance, the data entry buttons are disabled. Type in the name of Rater 1, then click the 'Enter scores' button. All the items in the data entry field become active. You can click them, change your mind and scroll up and down as much as you want. When you are confident you have filled them in correctly from the rater form, Click the 'Check Data' button. If you choose to enter data with 'Auto scroll' on, then the data entry field becomes restricted to a post box shape, and automatically scrolls as you click on each item, making it easy to fill the form in. Difficult to describe it clearly, or why it is handy. Just try it! If you don't like it you can always turn it off again. The 'Random fill' button enters random data in each item. I used it a lot during development, and left it in just in case you want to Run through the software without clicking on all the buttons. Just don't expect it to generate very interesting circumplexes CIRCLE 2.3-6
If you have missed any items out, and click the 'Check Data' button, you will get this message. If you haven't missed any items out, button labelled 'Go rater 2' appears immediately under the 'Check data' button. click it, and repeat the data entry process with your second rater's data. Assuming all goes well, when you click the 'Check data' button, another button labelled 'Go Results' will appear. Click it and you will be taken to... The results screen The screen is pretty information heavy, but if you read the PDF test manual which accompanied the software, it should all be fairly clear. In brief, the yellow circle is the mean, and if the segment extends beyond that towards the ultimate circumference, the score is above the mean. The concentric circles marked green one and two standard deviations below the mean, and the concentric circles marked in red one, two and three standard deviations above the mean. CIRCLE 2.3-7
The 'Copy to Clipboard' button (1) copies of the data above it to the clipboard enabling them to be pasted into a document or stats package. The 'Export Circle' button (2) exports the circumplex as an image in.png format. This can then be imported into reports or other documents. The 'Print Chart' button (3) prints the chart to the default printer. The 'check rater agreement' button (4) takes you to a screen which displays a 'confusion matrix', and which calculates Cohen's Kappa for the data. Cohen's Kappa if you understand Cohen's Kappa, then the above should be fairly self explanatory. You will see that in this case the final value is very low, which is because for the purposes of this walk through, I used random data, so Kappa should approach zero. The cells in the matrix colour-coded in order to give an indication of the degree of disagreement. For some items, the difference between occasionally and fairly often is not particularly significant. However more extreme disagreement (marked in orange or red) may well be. CIRCLE 2.3-8
A rater problem? If you click on any of the cells, a little yellow pop-up appears, listing the items contributing to the cell count. In the example here, you might wonder why one rater has said the patient never voices strong opinions and the other said he usually or frequently voices strong opinions. Is this a real, environmentally determined difference, or just error arising from rater error? Obviously this needs to be managed carefully, and raters should not be made aware of just how precisely the data is analysed. You might end up wth raters cooking the books in order to avoid such disagreement. Load data & Aggregate data buttons The 'Load data' button (1)lists the completed assessments. Double click on any nam/id to display the corresponding circumplex. The 'Aggregate data' button (2) takes you to a screen where you can combine and export in various formats the data from different assessments. CIRCLE 2.3-9
Aggregate data screen Select the records you want to export in field 1. Click the 'Choose' button (2) The selected items will appear in field marked '3' Then click the button 'Whole records' (4) and the records will appear in the scrollable field (5) The default format is columnar, but clicking on the button marked '6' converts to one line per records, which can be imported into a stats package. Clicking the 'Export data' button (8) offers a choice of export formats. Clicking the Kappa button revisits the confusion matrix screen and calculates the overall level of agreement and disagreement for all selected records. CIRCLE 2.3-10