This 5 page paper provides an overview of a Q methodology, which can be utilized to assess educators and their views on their classrooms. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: MH11_MHQmethod.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
method employed in this study is a quantitative design which is based on a Q methodology. Q methodologies were first created
in the mid 1930s by British physicist/psychologist William Stephenson (Brown, 1996). This type of methodology, though often applied in quantitative ways in terms of the integration of factor analysis,
has been utilized to "reveal the subjectivity involved in any situation-e.g., in aesthetic judgement, poetic interpretation, perceptions of organizational role, political attitudes, appraisals of health care, experiences of bereavement, perspectives
on life and the cosmos..." etc. (Brown, 1996). On contrast to traditional quantitative methodologies, the Q methodology attempts to combine the best elements of quantitative assessments and qualitative traditions
(including narrative forms) as a means of producing a more rounded outcome (Sell and Brown, 1984; See also Brown, 1996). Essential to
the Q methodology is the use of a quantitative element that is described as a Q-sort technique, in which a set of statements are presented and ranked, relative to agreement
or disagreement with the statement. Initially, Q-sort statement are derived from existing research in the area or from interviews that are conducted from a group of individuals representative of
the subject population, and so the question are grounded and exist as a part of the study as a whole. The ranking of these statements according to a specific
or explicit rule (condition of instruction) Is central to the assessment of the scores and the design of this methodology. The ranking of these statements, then, usually move from
agreement (+5) to disagreement (-5), "with scale scores provided to assist the participant in thinking about the task" (Brown, 2000).