Q Method and Surveys: Three Ways to Combine Q and R

Abstract

This article describes three techniques for combining a Q method analysis with a traditional survey. Q method is an effective way of identifying the various shared perspectives that people may hold about a given topic. The ability to measure those viewpoints in a later survey would allow the researcher to generalize the findings to a larger population and to construct explanations in which respondents' adherence to those perspectives is related to other variables. “Scale creation” involves presenting distinctive Q statements as Likert items that can be used to construct a traditional psychometric scale to measure each perspective. “Profile correlation” involves correlating respondents' overall pattern of responses with prototypes representing the perspectives. Finally, “narrative evaluation” asks the respondent to give his or her opinion about a narrative description of each perspective.

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“…Though Q methodology is sometimes specifically criticised for its lack of statistical rigour due to the legitimate possibility of including relatively few participants (e.g. Danielson 2009), Webler et al (2009) and Brown (2009) advocate that it is highly suitable for identifying the range and depth of beliefs and values. It is important to note that we did not try to prove the statistical dominance of one value over another, but rather …”

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“…Q methodology differs from R methodologies (for example surveys) where R studies the correlation between traits across a set of people, Q methodology turns this on its side and studies correlations between people across a set of traits (statements) (Danielson 2009). As such, many Q studies are undertaken with small participant numbers, purposively sampled, and therefore the results cannot generalize to the wider population in the same way survey data can.…”

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