Steven Brown, Evaluation and Measurement, and James M. M. Good, Durham University, U.K., presented Advanced Workshop on Q Methodology at the 33rd annual meeting of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 6, 2017.
Summary: This workshop was designed for Q scholars with more than elementary research and reading experience. The facilitators led the group through a number of issues that continue to challenge Q methodologists, tackling particular areas where debate or misunderstandings have arisen. The agenda included issues such as theoretical rotation, the structuring of Q samples and propositional sets, the forced Q-sort distribution, abduction as inference and process, the prior analysis of questionnaires and single case studies, as well as more historical/philosophical matters such as Newton’s Fifth Rule, the role of the Scottish Enlightenment, the laws of subjectivity, parallels with quantum theory, the status of consciousness vs. subjectivity, etc. Fifteen participants represented countries including the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Japan, Italy, Norway, Uruguay and the Netherlands.