Gauzente, Claire, & James M.M. Good (2020). Q methodology, William Stephenson and postdisciplinarity. In Tomas Pernecky (Ed.), Postdisciplinary knowledge (Chap. 9, pp. 165-182). Abingdon, UK, and New York: Routledge. 258 pp. ISBN: 978-0-367-17941-0 (cloth), $140.00; ISBN: 978-0-429-05856-1 (ebk), $54.95. (Book information: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IKKqDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT199&ots=Xn75cRsJSQ&sig=FgLMFFISq6VSzt-AIRy5CUKX08g#v=onepage&q&f=false) (Book advertisement: https://www.routledge.com/Postdisciplinary-Knowledge-1st-Edition/Pernecky/p/book/9780429058561)
Summary: Q methodology was developed in 1935 by William Stephenson, a British physicist/psychologist, who in our view exemplified several aspects of post-disciplinarity in his cursus. This methodology is specifically directed at studying human subjectivity and presents many features that can stimulate researchers’ creativity and innovativeness. The chapter is organized around four main parts. First, it presents a brief historical outline of the life and work of William Stephenson and highlights a number of respects in which his work is of relevance to postdisciplinarity. Second, it provides an outline of the basic concepts and procedures of Q methodology. The third section provides two examples of the practice of Q methodology utilising verbal and visual stimulus material, respectively . The final concluding section suggests a number of ways in which Q methodology can contribute to the development of postdisciplinary knowledge and practice.
Claire Gauzente <claire.gauzente@univ-nantes.fr> is with the Institute of Economics and Management, University of Nantes, Nantes, France. James Good <j.m.m.good@durham.ac.uk> is Honorary Fellow, Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK, and editor of Operant Subjectivity.
