Q Methodology

Charles C. Sule M.A.Sc.Ph.D. Candidate - Environmental Applied Science & Management

Presentation Overview

Origins and history of Q Method

Differences between ‘Q’ and ‘R’ methods and the q-sort

What Q means by ‘subjectivity’

Participant and sample selection

Data analysis with PQMethod

Factor interpretation Summary Questions

Origins of Q Methodology

Conceived by William Stephenson (pictured), who had Ph.D.s in both physics and psychology

Assistant to Charles Spearman, pioneer of factor analysis

‘Technique of factor analysis.’ Nature, 1935, 136(3434), p.297

http://qmethod.org/images/WSpix1.jpg

Q Sort

Typically statements written on cards

‘Forced distribution’ to a standard curve

Pers

ons

‘R’ Methods

Simple data matrix

Pearson’s ‘r’

r = 0.80 r = -0.80 r = 0.00

Variables

1 2 3 4 m

a ax1 ax2 ax3 ax4 axm

b bx1 bx2 bx3 bx4 bxm

c cx1 cx2 cx3 cx4 cxm

d dx1 dx2 dx3 dx4 dxm

n nx1 nx2 nx3 nx4 nxm

Operant Subjectivity

According to Watts (2011: 39) an ‘operant’ behaviour possesses two qualities:

1. an operant is produced and emitted naturally, without need for special training or any other form of artificial induction.

2. an operant is defined by the relationship it establishes with, and the impact it makes upon, the immediate environment.

Operant Subjectivity

Subjectivity is NOT some part of our consciousness

“It is not ‘inside’ us” (Watts, 2011: 39), Q is not a kind of phenomenological account

An expression of operant subjectivity can be recorded in a ‘Q-sort’

Q Method

Participants are called the ‘p-set’ Who are they? How many?

Statement sample is called the ‘q-set’ Concourse theory – the ‘universe’ of

possible statements Select a representative sample from

the concourse – the q-set

Q Method

Factor extraction

Factor rotation

Factor scores

Factor interpretation

Factor Scores -- For Factor 1# Statement Z-SCORES3 Organic is beneficial to biodiversity 1.80447 Org farming returns material to the soil 1.80140 For org to be fair, animals need well-being 1.69533 Fertilizers shall not harm the environment 1.42428 Eating food grown in a particular way 1.172 1 No consistent scientific evidence of better nutrition -1.38119 Animal health on org not necessarily better -1.518 4 No nutritional differences between org and conv -1.62745 There are no safety differences between org and conv -1.79846 An animal has good welfare if not diseased or ill -2.264

Q-Summary

Measures expressions of subjectivity Suited to exploratory, small n

studies Q-bie, q-munity… Kent State listserv just turned 22!

References

Stephenson, W. (1935). Correlating persons instead of tests. Journal of Personality, 4(1), 17–24.

Watts, S. (2011). Subjectivity as operant: a conceptual exploration and discussion. Operant Subjectivity, 35(1): 37–47.

Watts, S. & Stenner, P. (2012). Doing Q methodological research: theory, method and interpretation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd.