Methodological Pluralism in Theory and in Practice: The Case for Q in the Community

Calling it out? A Q Methodological Study of Sexual Harassment Labelling

The public condemnation of high-profile men accused of gendered violence in 2017 resulted in an upsurge of women labelling past experiences as sexual harassment. This study used Q methodology to explore understandings of sexual harassment in the UK. Forty participants sorted 62 statements into quasi-normal grids which were factor analyzed (by person). Eight factors were identified which were titled: Sex Not Sexism, Sexualized Discriminations, Victim Voice, Sameness and Difference, Power/Sex, Repeated Power Abuse, Personal Boundaries, and Masculinity and Heterosexism. Taken together, they signal that feminist efforts to articulate the experience of sexual harassment have gained ground during this period.

Supplementing Q-method with narratives: Contextualizing CEOs’ values for family firms

Values in family firms are influenced by the complex interplay of family and business. Thus, research requires methods that grasp this complexity. This paper presents a fresh methodological approach for family business research with the example of an in-depth analysis of CEOs’ value orientations. Benefits of an integrated use of two qualitative methods – Q-sorts and narrative interviews – which were collected and analyzed for 16 CEOs of family firms are illustrated. Q-method was used to build value patterns, whereas narrative interviews were conducted to reveal how values were contextualized and interpreted. This integrated approach builds qualitative richness in different ways: first, by allowing for a deep understanding of individual experience; second, by providing more contextual insight, and third, by capturing the meaning of abstract values. The approach advanced here can be reproduced for other complex organizational dynamics. Thus, this user-friendly approach is particularly suited for organizational research in a managerial environment.

Disrupted breath, songlines of breathlessness: an interdisciplinary response

Health research is often bounded by disciplinary expertise. While cross-disciplinary collaborations are often forged, the analysis of data which draws on more than one discipline at the same time is underexplored. Life of Breath, a 5-year project funded by the Wellcome Trust to understand the clinical, historical and cultural phenomenology of the breath and breathlessness, brings together an interdisciplinary team, including medical humanities scholars, respiratory clinicians, medical anthropologists, medical historians, cultural theorists, artists and philosophers. While individual members of the Life of Breath team come together to share ongoing work, collaborate and learn from each other's approach, we also had the ambition to explore the feasibility of integrating our approaches in a shared response to the same piece of textual data. In this article, we present our pluralistic, interdisciplinary analysis of an excerpt from a single cognitive interview transcript with a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We discuss the variation in the responses and interpretations of the data, why research into breathlessness may particularly benefit from an interdisciplinary approach, and the wider implications of the findings for interdisciplinary research within health and medicine.

Q method to map the diversity of stakeholder viewpoints along agricultural innovation systems: a case study on cattle genetic improvement in Niger

Abstract. The complex balance between innovation and conservation regarding animal genetic resources makes it difficult to find mutually accepted improvement pathways between breeders, government agencies, and research and education institutions. This study maps stakeholder viewpoints on cattle genetic improvement in Niger using the Q method. Fifty-three statements derived from expert opinions and focus group interviews were ranked by 22 respondents along a seven-grade scale expressing their degree of approval. The Q method reveals a limited consensus on development goals, overall strategy, and the present context of operation. Beyond this consensus, three discourses are identified that express distinct attitudes regarding the balance between conservation and progress, leading to distinct strategies. The first discourse fits with a modernist vision and government strategies established in the 2000s based on exotic crossbreeding and improved purebred Azawak. The second discourse lines up with the previous livestock development strategy of Niger (before 2000) based on indigenous breeds. The third discourse represents a conservationist vision, with minor importance in the present sampling. Tentative observations are proposed on the consequences of this divide in opinions on livestock policies in Niger, including extension. The Q method appears effective in identifying the concerns of stakeholders on complex agricultural innovation topics. As a sensing tool to follow-up policy implementation in similarly complex agricultural topics, the Q method may inform adaptive extension and education strategies.

Constructions of sex and intimacy after cancer: Q methodology study of people with cancer, their partners, and health professionals

BACKGROUND

The increasing number of individuals living with cancer has led to a focus on the quality of life of survivors, and their families. Sexual wellbeing is a central component of quality of life, with a growing body of research demonstrating the association between cancer and changes to sexuality and intimacy. However, little is known about patient and professional understanding of cancer and sexuality post-cancer. This study was designed to explore the complex perspectives that people with personal and professional experience with cancer hold about sexuality in the context of cancer.

METHODS

An interview study using Q methodology was conducted with 44 people with cancer, 35 partners of a person with cancer and 37 health professionals working in oncology. Participants were asked to rank-order 56 statements about sexuality and intimacy after cancer and asked to comment on their rankings in a subsequent semi-structured interview. A by-person factor analysis was performed with factors extracted according to the centroid method with a varimax rotation.

RESULTS

A three-factor solution provided the best conceptual fit for the perspectives regarding intimacy and sexuality post-cancer. Factor 1, entitled "communication - dispelling myths about sex and intimacy" positions communication as central to the acceptance of a range of satisfying sexual and intimate practices post-cancer. Factor 2, "valuing sexuality across the cancer journey," centres on the theme of normalizing the experience of sex after cancer through the renegotiation of sex and intimacy: the development of alternative sexual practices. Factor 3, "intimacy beyond sex," presents the view that even though sex may not be wanted, desired, or even possible following cancer, quality of life and relationship satisfaction are achieved through communication and non-genital intimacy.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has demonstrated the complexity of perspectives about sexuality and intimacy post cancer, which has practical implications for those working in cancer care and survivorship. Therapists and other health professionals can play an important role in ameliorating concerns surrounding sexual wellbeing after cancer, by opening and facilitating discussion of sexuality and intimacy amongst couples affected by cancer, as well as providing information that normalizes a range of sexual and intimate practices.