Research Methods Seminars - Q Methodology

This is the first in a series of seminars where staff talk about how they have applied different research methodologies and methods within their own research. First up is Lesley Brook who will present how she used Q methodology in her Master of Professional Practice research. Q methodology blends aspects of qualitative and quantitative research by asking participants to sort items, usually a set of statements, on a scale to express their perspectives on the issue under investigation. Lesley has used Q methodology in a novel way, asking research participants to express their emotional responses to artworks in an exhibition by sorting images of those artworks. Images were sorted according to the strength of each participant’s emotional response, from strongest negative to strongest positive emotional responses. The sorting captures qualitative data and enables statistical analysis of the results of the sorts to identify patterns and hence groups of participants.