Vicente-Mariño, Miguel, María del Mar Grandío Pérez, José Manuel Noguera Vivo, Hada Sánchez Gonzáles, & Rocío Zamora Medina (2017). El empleo de métodos Q para la investigación en comunicación: diseño y evaluación de un estudio comparado a escala europea [The use of Q methods for communication research: Design and evaluation of a comparative study at European level]. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico [Studies on the Journalistic Message], 23(2), 1419-1436. [Spanish]
Abstract: This article presents the methodological design of an ongoing research project conducted across Europe about the media consumption as a democratic resource. By means of a combination of in-depth interviews, questionnaires and Q methods, a critical evaluation of the benefits and limitations that these methodological innovations could bring to communication research is completed. The dialogue established between teams of thirteen different countries fosters a necessary discussion about the challenges imposed by comparative research at international scale. Moreover, the incorporation of Q methods as a central part of the methodological strategy turns into an opportunity to learn and explore the connections between quantitative and qualitative approaches to social sciences. The detailed explanation of the decisions taken by the research team during more than two years are
offered as an invitation to public discussion and to the application of these techniques during both the data collection and data analysis phases.
Miguel Vicente-Mariño <miguelvm@soc.uva.es> is on the Faculty of Social, Legal and Communication Sciences and serves as director of the Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Valladolid, Spain.
