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Quality & Quantity

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01-11-2014

Overly ambitious: contributions and current status of Q methodology

Authors: Jarl K. Kampen, Peter Tamás

Published in: Quality & Quantity | Issue 6/2014

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Abstract

This essay offers a small description of recent contributions and status of Q methodology by means of a review of suggested best practices, a systematic review of practice, and a methodological audit. Both theoretical and empirical study suggest that Q methodology neither delivers its promised insight into human subjectivity nor accounts adequately for threats to the validity of the claims it can legitimately make. These concerns in turn, render the method inappropriate for its declared purpose, the scientific study of subjectivity, and suspect for the full range of ontological perspectives, from (neo) positivist to constructivist.

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Title: Overly ambitious: contributions and current status of Q methodology
Authors: Jarl K. Kampen
Peter Tamás
Publication date: 01-11-2014
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Quality & Quantity / Issue 6/2014
Print ISSN: 0033-5177
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7845
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-013-9944-z

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