Day, Shane (2008, Summer). Applications of Q methodology to a variety of policy process theories and frameworks. International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, 11(2), 141-171.

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of a form of factor analysis, Q methodology, and suggests how it might be applied in an institutional analysis setting. Q methodology provides for a middle ground between positivist and phenomenological methods, and that its usage will not necessarily result in overly contextualized findings that render generalization impossible. The paper’s primary focus is to suggest several uses of Q methodology within different established policy studies frameworks, namely the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework, the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), and the policy process as conceptualized by Lasswell’s Policy Sciences approach.

Shane Day is a doctoral candidate in the Joint Ph.D. Program in Public Policy, School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Department of Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington. His teaching and research interests are in public policy, international relations, environmental policy, identity politics, and the politics of indigenous groups.

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Author of Political Subjectivity (Yale University Press 1980), founding editor of Operant Subjectivity (1977), organizer of first Q conference (1985) and founding member of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity (1989), founder and moderator of Q-Method electronic discussion list (1991), and laureate of ISSSS's William Stephenson Award (2010). Also past editor of Policy Sciences, co-founder of the International Society of Political Psychology and the Society of Policy Scientists, list manager of PolicySciencesSociety, executive director of ISPP, laureate of ISPP's Harold Lasswell Award (2009) for lifetime scientific contributions, and Kappa Tau Alpha award (2001) for contributions to journalism and mass communication.