Ramlo, S. (2010, February). Applications of Q Methodology in Higher Education. Paper presented at the Eastern Educational Research Association, Savannah, GA.
ABSTRACT: William Stephenson specifically developed Q methodology, or Q, as a means of measuring subjectivity (Brown, 1980, 2008; McKeown & Thomas, 1988; Stephenson, 1953). Q has been used to determine perspectives / views in a wide variety of fields from marketing research to political science (Brown, 1980; McKeown & Thomas, 1988) but less frequently in education (Brown, 1980). In higher education, the author has used Q methodology to determine views about a variety of situations, from students� views about a newly developed bioinformatics course (Ramlo, McConnell, Duan, & Moore, 2008) to faculty members� views of reading circles as a professional development experience to improve teaching and learning in their classrooms (Ramlo & McConnell, 2008). The purpose of this paper will be to introduce Q methodology and demonstrate its versatility in addressing research purposes in higher education, especially where the focus is on determining people�s perceptions and / or grouping people based upon their views.
