Q Metohodology
Q- Sort Methodology
1. What is Q Methodology?
Q methodology provides a foundation for the systematic study of subjectivity, a person’s viewpoint, opinion, beliefs, attitude, and the like. Typically, in a Q methodological study people are presented with a sample of statements about some topic, called the Q-set. Respondents, called the P-set, are asked to rank-order the statements from their individual point of view, according to some preference, judgment or feeling about them, mostly using a quasi-normal distribution. By Q sorting people give their subjective meaning to the statements, and by doing so reveal their subjective viewpoint or personal profile.
These individual rankings (or viewpoints) are then subject to factor analysis. Q methodology presented as an inversion of conventional factor analysis in the sense that Q correlates persons instead of tests; “whereas previously a large number of people were given a small number of tests, now we give a small number of people a large number of test-items”. Correlation between personal profiles then indicates similar viewpoints, or segments of subjectivity which exist. By correlating people, Q factor analysis gives information about similarities and differences in viewpoint on a particular subject. If each individual would have her/his own specific likes and dislikes, then their profiles will not correlate; if, however, significant clusters of correlations exist, they could be factorized, described as common viewpoints (or tastes, preferences, dominant accounts, typologies, et cetera), and individuals could be measured with respect to them.
The factors resulting from Q analysis thus represent clusters of subjectivity that are operant, i.e., that represent functional rather than merely logical distinctions. Studies using surveys and questionnaires often use categories that the investigator imposes on the responses. Q, on the other hand, determines categories that are operant. A crucial premise of Q is that
1. What is Q Methodology?
Q methodology provides a foundation for the systematic study of subjectivity, a person’s viewpoint, opinion, beliefs, attitude, and the like. Typically, in a Q methodological study people are presented with a sample of statements about some topic, called the Q-set. Respondents, called the P-set, are asked to rank-order the statements from their individual point of view, according to some preference, judgment or feeling about them, mostly using a quasi-normal distribution. By Q sorting people give their subjective meaning to the statements, and by doing so reveal their subjective viewpoint or personal profile.
These individual rankings (or viewpoints) are then subject to factor analysis. Q methodology presented as an inversion of conventional factor analysis in the sense that Q correlates persons instead of tests; “whereas previously a large number of people were given a small number of tests, now we give a small number of people a large number of test-items”. Correlation between personal profiles then indicates similar viewpoints, or segments of subjectivity which exist. By correlating people, Q factor analysis gives information about similarities and differences in viewpoint on a particular subject. If each individual would have her/his own specific likes and dislikes, then their profiles will not correlate; if, however, significant clusters of correlations exist, they could be factorized, described as common viewpoints (or tastes, preferences, dominant accounts, typologies, et cetera), and individuals could be measured with respect to them.
The factors resulting from Q analysis thus represent clusters of subjectivity that are operant, i.e., that represent functional rather than merely logical distinctions. Studies using surveys and questionnaires often use categories that the investigator imposes on the responses. Q, on the other hand, determines categories that are operant. A crucial premise of Q is that