Banasick, Shawn (2019). KADE: A desktop application for Q methodology. JOSS: Journal of Open Source Software, 4(36), art. 1360. (Link: https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01360)

Summary: KADE is a desktop application for analyzing Q methodology data that operates on Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and Linux systems. Features not included in other open source packages include interactive visualizations that facilitate theoretical rotation so that both scatter plot and table of factor loadings appear on the same screen. The program also produces the same tables as PQMethod plus visualizations of composite factor arrays that can be exported in either PNG or scalable vector graphics (SVG) format. KADE can also change the confidence level settings for the auto-flagging function, thereby making it easier to explore multiple flagging strategies to find the most suitable set of representative Q sorts for a project. Planned additions to the application include hierarchical factor structure tables and visualizations, which could help researchers to identify the appropriate number of factors to extract, and the internationalization of the graphical user interface to make it easier for non-English speaking researchers to use the application.

Shawn Banasick <banasick@MAIL.KOBE-C.AC.JP> is in the Global Studies Section, Department of English, Kobe College, Nishinomiya, Japan.