Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: History and Bibliography
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The principles of Q methodology are first elaborated under the governing axiom of the centrality of self, followed by three applications. (1) In a study of the concept of indigenization, six perspectives emerge, five of which accept... more
The principles of Q methodology are first elaborated under the governing axiom of the centrality of self, followed by three applications. (1) In a study of the concept of indigenization, six perspectives emerge, five of which accept indigenization in one of its semantic manifestations. One group rejects Western training and concepts as applicable to the study of Korean society; a second factor accepts Western concepts but believes that they have to be indigenized to match the requirements of Korean society; a third group draws a sharp distinction between the human and natural sciences; a fourth group sees all concepts and procedures as culture bound; and a fifth group, friendly to the experimental sciences, accepts concrete experience as the basis of any human science. Only one group of U.S. -trained faculty members, believes in a context-free science of universal applicability. (2) A study of national identity utilizes a concourse of statements about Koreans and results in four factors, of which one is comprised of Americans living in Korea. The first Korean factor is the view of modernizers, who focus on the dialectic conflict of past traits and tendencies and emerging modem characteristics. The second factor criticizes current Korean traits as amorally expedient, but limited evidence is presented that the appraisal by this factor is colored by the Q sorters' own cultural alienation. The third Korean factor is comprised solely of males and provides an exaggerated idealization of Korean society that may be a response influenced by the Confucian value of filial piety. The American factor is a function of the contrast between U.S. and Korean procedures and values, e.g., about loyalty, tolerance, and practicality. (3) The final study is an intensive analysis of a single person who Q sorts a diverse set of names(e.g., Confucius, Tangun, Buddha, Choi Jewoo) under eight conditions of instruction focused on various cultural values(e.g., in, yae, eui), the factorization of which reveals value conflicts and the structure of the person's deep subjectivity. Concluding comments revolve around the meaningfulness of measurements in cultural studies.
Research Interests:
Arguments favoring free‐ over forced‐distribution Q sorts have assumed that forcing leads to loss of important statistical information and interferes with interval properties, rendering Pearson's r inappropriate for analysis. Q sorts... more
Arguments favoring free‐ over forced‐distribution Q sorts have assumed that forcing leads to loss of important statistical information and interferes with interval properties, rendering Pearson's r inappropriate for analysis. Q sorts with identical item orderings but with varied distributions are shown to provide essentially the same correlations and factor structures when coefficients are computed using Spearman's rs, Kendall's τ, and Pearson's r, leading to the conclusion that the same results are obtained, despite distribution and whether interval or ordinal statistics are used.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
William Stephenson's 1935 letter to the Editor of Nature, published 60 years ago, contains within its four short paragraphs all the essentials for a science of subjectivity. Focusing on two studies - on the controversies surrounding... more
William Stephenson's 1935 letter to the Editor of Nature, published 60 years ago, contains within its four short paragraphs all the essentials for a science of subjectivity. Focusing on two studies - on the controversies surrounding animal experimentation and of problem selection in policy analysis - illustrations are provided of the new phenomena brought to light through "inverted" factor analysis, and of the advantages of experimentation which Q methodology enjoys. A proposed study on food habits demonstrates how experimental probes can be made into the cognitive and orectic aspects of nutrition and food choice. The conclusion is reached that Q methodology remains the foundation of the study of subjective behavior.
Research Interests:
acknowledgement It is amusing to find (p. 69) Robert Merton acknowledged as ’the theoretical &dquo;big daddy&dquo; of American subcultural theorists ...’ It is rather less amusing to discover a rich assembly ofideas and concepts... more
acknowledgement It is amusing to find (p. 69) Robert Merton acknowledged as ’the theoretical &dquo;big daddy&dquo; of American subcultural theorists ...’ It is rather less amusing to discover a rich assembly ofideas and concepts floating about undefined and, mostly, not integrated or related. The parade of central authors is organised into homogeneous ranks ofMarxists and functionalists with an expose of an author’s position and a set of quick criticisms. The difficulty with this is that the author provides the reader with no consistent orienting theoretical or moral stance. For example, having outlined the writings of Mark Abrams on youth and affluence the author criticises Abrams as ’wholly uncritical of capitalism’ and adds enigmatically ’Perhaps he saw himself simply as a market researcher whose job was to report facts and trends’ (p. 35). There is an absence of data, either quantitative or qualitative in the book. Eisenstadt (p. 7) and Cowgill and Holmes (p. 130) are criticised without explanation for following ‘a positivist methodology’ as though this were self-evidently wrong. The book does provide a rich parade of sociological ideas and academic stars. However in being heavy in sociologese, and light on definition, data and integration, this book is more likely to leave students with a jargon ofage than a capacity to reflect on the age structuring oftheir own lives. I don’t think that introductory social analysis should be glib and simplistic but perhaps I am too old for this book!
Research Interests:
In an era of decreasing interest in foreign languages, the goal of this research is to acquire and retain foreign language students at the university level. To achieve this the researchers used Q methodology. Two different outlooks are... more
In an era of decreasing interest in foreign languages, the goal of this research is to acquire and retain foreign language students at the university level. To achieve this the researchers used Q methodology. Two different outlooks are discovered and examined in light of previous research and the current situation. The authors then propose that this ongoing project, which is a collaboration between professors of public relations and of foreign languages, could move into the program stage employing Q in a public relations framework. Feedback meetings with respondents are to be arranged followed by briefings to University administrators who will be offered the opportunity of proceeding to a proactive program of communication.
Research Interests:
Concern about the future of Q methodology is examined by drawing a concourse from contributions to the Q-Method electronic discussion list, N=40 of which comprise a Q sample that is administered to n=42 participants, resulting in four... more
Concern about the future of Q methodology is examined by drawing a concourse from contributions to the Q-Method electronic discussion list, N=40 of which comprise a Q sample that is administered to n=42 participants, resulting in four factors. Those on Factor A (Orthodoxy Upheld) express a desire to maintain Stephenson's original conception of Q methodology and are concerned about intellectual leadership. Members of Factor B (Orthodoxy Applied and Promoted) are likewise supporters of the Stephenson tradition, but wish to vouchsafe Q's future through practical application to significant social issues and presenting the results in professional (non-Q) settings. Those on Factor C (Orthodoxy Reinforced) distinguish themselves from the previous two groups by virtue of their demand for greater material and non-material resources in support of the Q movement. The group on Factor D (Beyond Orthodoxy) expresses a desire to break with the past and encourage Q's accommodation with contemporary technical and conceptual developments, such as web-based Q sorting and qualitative research. Discussion focuses on the implications of these perspectives for the future of Q methodology.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Q methodology was developed in the 1930s and has become increasingly utilized as a means for examining subjective behavior in a rigorous and naturalistic way. One of the advantages of Q methodology is its utility in examining single... more
Q methodology was developed in the 1930s and has become increasingly utilized as a means for examining subjective behavior in a rigorous and naturalistic way. One of the advantages of Q methodology is its utility in examining single cases, which, when conjoined with the mathematics of factor analysis, reveals parallels with quantum theory. An illustration is presented from a study of national identity in which spontaneous and indeterminate expressions of national sentiment are selected from interviews and gathered into a Q sample, which is then administered as a Q sort to a small group of participants. Factor analysis of the data reveals identities expressed as national pride, shame, and apprehension. A second study on authoritarianism illustrates the presence of quantum effects revealed in the subjective communicability of a representative personality to which the same Q sort is administered under multiple conditions of instruction, which demonstrates diverse response functions emerging as equivalent to the interference effects of quantum experiments.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Q methodology's role and status is appraised I light of the 12 intervening years since the keynote speech carrying the same title was read at the first (1985) Q conference. The pervasiveness of subjectivity is stressed, as is Q's... more
Q methodology's role and status is appraised I light of the 12 intervening years since the keynote speech carrying the same title was read at the first (1985) Q conference. The pervasiveness of subjectivity is stressed, as is Q's role in measuring and conceptualizing it. Evidence is provided that Q methodology has achieved certain characteristics of a normal science (as defined by Kuhn), and an inventory is made of conceptual errors and of the kings of resistances to Q's implications Summaries are also provided of the variety of projects in which Q methodology has a central role. The conclusion is reached that Q remains outside the mainstream, but that there have been marked improvements in its status within the past decade. These comments constituted an address to the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity, Syracuse University, October 23-35, 1997.
Research Interests:
In cross-cultural studies, the comparability of Q samples in different languages becomes problematic, and in this study procedures are introduced for enhancing confidence that parallel Q sorts written in two languages provide roughly... more
In cross-cultural studies, the comparability of Q samples in different languages becomes problematic, and in this study procedures are introduced for enhancing confidence that parallel Q sorts written in two languages provide roughly equivalent results. 11 English-speaking German nationals performed two Q sorts containing the same statements, one version in German and a parallel version in English, and correlations and factor analysis indicated virtually no differences in outcome. Discussion focuses on the cross-cultural comparability in R and Q methodology.
Research Interests:
Abstract 1. Views the statistical strength of factors in both R and Q studies as artifactual to sampling considerations. Factor strength, therefore, may not be truly representative of variable contributions in the external situation. Two... more
Abstract 1. Views the statistical strength of factors in both R and Q studies as artifactual to sampling considerations. Factor strength, therefore, may not be truly representative of variable contributions in the external situation. Two case studies illustrate the importance ...