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Q Methodology

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

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Q Methodology

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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. Q Sort • Typically statements written on cards • ‘Forced distribution’ to a standard curve

  5. ‘R’ Methods • Simple data matrix • Pearson’s ‘r’ • r = 0.80 r = -0.80 r = 0.00 Persons

  6. Operant Subjectivity • According to Watts (2011: 39) an ‘operant’ behaviour possesses two qualities: • an operant is produced and emitted naturally, without need for special training or any other form of artificial induction. • an operant is defined by the relationship it establishes with, and the impact it makes upon, the immediate environment.

  7. 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’

  8. 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

  9. Q Method

  10. Factor extraction

  11. Factor rotation

  12. Factor scores

  13. Factor interpretation Factor Scores -- For Factor 1 # Statement Z-SCORES 3 Organic is beneficial to biodiversity 1.804 47 Org farming returns material to the soil 1.801 40 For org to be fair, animals need well-being 1.695 33 Fertilizers shall not harm the environment 1.424 28 Eating food grown in a particular way 1.172 1 No consistent scientific evidence of better nutrition -1.381 19 Animal health on org not necessarily better -1.518 4 No nutritional differences between org and conv -1.627 45 There are no safety differences between org and conv -1.798 46 An animal has good welfare if not diseased or ill -2.264

  14. Q-Summary • Measures expressions of subjectivity • Suited to exploratory, small n studies • Q-bie, q-munity… • Kent State listserv just turned 22!

  15. 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.

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