Your CIOS file request: Q-METHOD/05299111.358 hotline item

-
Received:  by CIOS Mailer; Friday 29 May 2009 11:13:58
Date:         Fri, 29 May 2009 11:12:10 -0400
From:         "BROWN, STEVEN" 
Subject: Re: cool cars!
To:           Q-METHOD@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU
List-Help: ,              
List-Unsubscribe: 
List-Subscribe: 
List-Owner: 
List-Archive: 

--_000_C645738A6D82sbrownkentedu_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


I agree that group sorts might result in the loudest getting their way at t=
he expense of the less aggressive, but as John Bradley points out, this wou=
ld be a very good way to study power relationships.  Consider family counse=
ling and how revealing it might be were the members of a family to provide =
their individual Q sorts (about the family's dynamics) and then come togeth=
er to provide a single consensus Q sort.  With which individual Q sorts wou=
ld the consensual Q sort most highly correlate (Father's? Mothers? Baby Jan=
e's?) and what would this reveal about the family dynamics?  And what if we=
 asked A what she thought B's point of view is: how would that correlate wi=
th the family consensus?  And, of course, we could also ask A what she thin=
ks B's view is of A's point of view... etc.  (Perhaps it's time to revisit =
R.D. Laing's The Politics of the Family, CBC, 1968.)  Similarly with a deci=
sion group or work group within an organization: How would the negotiated Q=
 sort compare with the individual Q sorts provided by the members of the ne=
gotiating team?  Q has been used in various group settings, of course, but =
I'm not aware of any publications in which it has been used in this particu=
lar way.

___________________________________________
*  _____  ______  ____  __ __  ____  ___ _  *  Steven R. Brown
| |  ___||_    _||  _ ||  |  ||  _ ||   | | |  Political Science
| |___  |  |  |  |  _| |  |  ||  _| |     | |  Kent State University
| |_____|  |__|  |____| \___/ |____||_|___| |  (sbrown@kent.edu)
*___________________________________________*_________________________
... Someday-the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way. And th=
ey'll all walk together, and there'll be a dead terror from it. (John Stein=
beck)




On 5/29/09 6:37 AM, "John Bradley"  wrote:


The Cool Wall for sorting cars that Wendy is referring appears each week on=
 the TV programme Top Gear. (I promise you I only watch it when my teenage =
son is at home and takes control of the television).

I hadn't thought of it as a sorting activity before, but clearly it is. How=
ever it includes some interesting methodological variations that we might w=
ant to reflect on. Essentially it is a group sort - in that the three prese=
nters argue about where a car belongs on the sorting wall. One of them migh=
t place it at the 'super-cool' end, only for the others to argue about it a=
nd decide they want to place it somewhere else. I wonder if anyone has used=
 Q as a group task before? As such it changes the nature of the activity fr=
om one where we could explore the varied viewpoints on cars, to one in whic=
h the group has to settle on a single viewpoint. Interestingly, this suppos=
ed consensus is usually reached when the biggest and loudest presenter (Jer=
emy Clarkson) takes control and tells the other two that his viewpoint is c=
orrect and theirs are wrong. So it becomes an interesting activity for expl=
oring power relationships, but like in the rest of life the smaller less ag=
gressive members have their viewpoints stamped on and ignored.


Dr John Bradley
Head of Inclusion Services
and Principal Educational Psychologist
Children & Young People's Services
Nottinghamshire County Council

--_000_C645738A6D82sbrownkentedu_
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable








I agree that group sorts might result in the loudest getting their way at t=
he expense of the less aggressive, but as John Bradley points out, this wou=
ld be a very good way to study power relationships.  Consider family c=
ounseling and how revealing it might be were the members of a family to pro=
vide their individual Q sorts (about the family’s dynamics) and then =
come together to provide a single consensus Q sort.  With which indivi=
dual Q sorts would the consensual Q sort most highly correlate (Father̵=
7;s? Mothers? Baby Jane’s?) and what would this reveal about the fami=
ly dynamics?  And what if we asked A what she thought B’s point =
of view is: how would that correlate with the family consensus?  And, =
of course, we could also ask A what she thinks B’s view is of A’=
;s point of view... etc.  (Perhaps it’s time to revisit R.D. Lai=
ng’s The Politics of the Family, CBC, 1968.)  Similarly w=
ith a decision group or work group within an organization: How would the ne=
gotiated Q sort compare with the individual Q sorts provided by the members=
 of the negotiating team?  Q has been used in various group settings, =
of course, but I’m not aware of any publications in which it has been=
 used in this particular way.



 ___________________________________________

*=A0 _____=A0 ______=A0 ____=A0 __ __=A0 ____=A0 ___ _=A0 *=A0 Steven R. Brown

| |=A0 ___||_=A0=A0=A0 _||=A0 _ ||=A0 |=
=A0 ||=A0 _ ||=A0=A0 | | |=A0 Political Science=


| |___=A0 |=A0 | =A0|=A0 | =A0_| |=A0 | =
=A0||=A0 _| |=A0=A0=A0=A0 | |=A0 Kent State Uni=
versity

| |_____|=A0 |__|=A0 |____| \___/ |____||=
_|___| |=A0=A0(sbro=
wn@kent.edu)

*________________________________________=
___*_________________________

... Someday—the armies of bitte=
rness will all be going the same way. And they'll all walk together, and th=
ere'll be a dead terror from it. (John Steinbeck)









On 5/29/09 6:37 AM, "John Bradley" <john.bradley@NOTTSCC.GOV.UK> wrote:





The Cool Wall for sorting cars that Wendy is referring appears each =
week on the TV programme Top Gear. (I promise you I only watch it wh=
en my teenage son is at home and takes control of the television). 



I hadn’t thought of it as a sorting activity before, but clearly it i=
s. However it includes some interesting methodological variations that we m=
ight want to reflect on. Essentially it is a group sort – in that the=
 three presenters argue about where a car belongs on the sorting wall. One =
of them might place it at the ‘super-cool’ end, only for the ot=
hers to argue about it and decide they want to place it somewhere else. I w=
onder if anyone has used Q as a group task before? As such it changes the n=
ature of the activity from one where we could explore the varied viewpoints=
 on cars, to one in which the group has to settle on a single viewpoint. In=
terestingly, this supposed consensus is usually reached when the big=
gest and loudest presenter (Jeremy Clarkson) takes control and tells the ot=
her two that his viewpoint is correct and theirs are wrong. So it becomes a=
n interesting activity for exploring power relationships, but like in the r=
est of life the smaller less aggressive members have their viewpoints stamp=
ed on and ignored. 





Dr John Bradley

Head of Inclusion Services

and Principal Educational Psychologist

Children & Young People's Services

Nottinghamshire County Council 






--_000_C645738A6D82sbrownkentedu_--