A Brief Introduction to Q Methodology

Abstract

Q methodology is a method to systematically study subjective matters such as thoughts and beliefs on any given topic. Q methodology can be used for both theory building and theory testing. The purpose of this paper was to give a brief overview of Q methodology to readers with various backgrounds. This paper discussed several advantages of Q methodology that makes it attractive to researchers and practitioners who are interested in understanding different perspectives or behavioral patterns toward any given topic, its distinct position as a methodology, and how it fits into the qualitative-mixedquantitative continuum. The paper further used two research studies as applications to demonstrate how to perform a Q methodological study, involving the following steps: development of the Q sort statements; selection of the P set (participants); Q sorting; and analysis and interpretation of Q sorts.

Why Should the Q-method Be Integrated Into the Design Science Research? A Systematic Mapping Study

“…The method can be used as a mixed method with a limited number of respondents (Davis & Michelle, 2011), useful for evaluating the proposed IS artifact in the demonstration process of DSR. Besides, the mapping supports the previous study on the use of the Q-method for theory building (Yang, 2016), as shown in Table 1. The Q-method contributes 44% to the invention of knowledge as one of the main objectives of DSR (Gregor & Hevner, 2013;Gregory, 2011) in the IS community.…”

“… The IS strategy, Management, and Acquisition. The Q-method consists of a concourse or a list of statements, opinions, or the sum of all that people say or think about the investigated topic collected from various sources (Watts & Stenner, 2012;Yang, 2016). Statements are essential to preparation and can be used to represent the feelings and opinions of the user/object of study (Watts & Stenner, 2012).…”

“…In other words, the Q-method tries to get the users' perceptions or opinions on the statements; then evaluate and order the statements by importance in a "forced-choice" distribution form known as Q-sort, in order to reach consensus (Dziopa & Ahern, 2011;Stephenson, 1953). The Q-method is already in extensive use in social-science research (Doody, Kearney, Barry, Moles, & O'Regan, 2009;Jung et al, 2009), to evaluate educational technology (Kurt & Yıldırım, 2018;Wharrad & Windle, 2010), theory building or theory testing (Yang, 2016), and proposed IS-design solutions (Doherty, 2012;Gottschalk, 2002;Mettler & Wulf, 2018). An active Q-method community has consistently organized conferences each year since 1983.…”

Stakeholder discourse and opinion towards a charismatic non‐native lizard species: Potential invasive problem or a welcome addition?

“…Other authors have employed qualitative techniques such as focus groups to delve deeper into the reasoning behind the formation of particular viewpoints, enabling an interpretation of the data that allows for a broader understanding and recognition of important patterns and themes within the discourse (Dandy et al., ; Selge, Fischer, & van der Wal, ). One method that combines both qualitative and semi quantitative analysis of subjective opinion among stakeholders is Q method (Brown, ; Yang, ). Although frequently used in analysis of discourse within the environmental sciences (Brannstrom, ; Hagan & Williams, ; Lansing, ; Walder & Kantelhardt, ) the method has seen very little application in regard to discourse on NNS (Falk‐Petersen, ).…”

The Global Conference on Education and Research: Volume 1

“…The researcher first informed participants about their rights. Participants were then asked to perform a Q-sorting process on a set of 36 statements regarding engineering learning (Yang, 2016). The Q-sorting statements were adapted from Wheeler's Epistemological Beliefs Survey for Mathematics (EBSM;Wheeler, 2007).…”