Yang, Xigui, & Meimei Xu (2021). The use of Q methodology to evaluate instruction in higher education. In Jill E. Stefaniak, Sheri Conklin, Beth Oyarzun, & Rebecca M. Reese (Eds.), A practitioner’s guide to instructional design in higher education (pp. 53-60). Online: EdTech Books (https://edtechbooks.org/id_highered). (Access to Chapter: https://edtechbooks.org/id_highered/the_use_of_q_methodoe) (Link to Book: https://edtechbooks.org/pdfs/print/id_highered/_id_highered.pdf)
Abstract: This chapter introduces the use of Q methodology to evaluate instruction in the context of higher education. As an important component of instructional design, evaluation is essential to ensure the quality of a program or curriculum. Different data collection methods and analysis tools are needed to evaluate educational interventions (Frechtling, 2010; Saunders, 2011). Instructional design practitioners are required to be familiar with a range of quantitative and qualitative analytic methods to perform a variety of evaluations in different contexts. Q methodology is a unique mixed method that utilizes both quantitative and qualitative techniques to examine people’s subjective viewpoints (Brown, 1993). We propose that Q methodology should be included in the evaluator’s toolbox. We attempt to provide instructional design practitioners with some practical guidelines to apply Q methodology to evaluation based on a systematic overview of evaluation and Q methodology. Suggestions and limitations of using Q methodology for higher education evaluation are also discussed.
Xigui Yang <xy65409@uga.edu> is in the Department of Learning, Design, and Technology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (USA).
