'Quantifying' qualitative data: An illustrative example of the use of Q methodology in psychosocial research

Qualitative Research in Psychology

Volumn 3, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 147-165

  Shemmings, David ^a  

^a MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Attachment theory; Patterned subjectivities; Q methodology

Indexed keywords

EID: 33846274553     PISSN: 14780887     EISSN: 14780895     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1191/1478088706qp060oa     Document Type: Review

References (36)

1. Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E. and Wall, S. 1978: Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Erlbaum.
2. Berlin, L.J. and Cassidy, J. 1999: Relations among relationships: contributions from attachment theory and research. In Cassidy, J. and Shaver P.R., editors, Handbook of attachment: theory, research and clinical applications. Guilford Press, 688-712.
3. Bowlby, J. 1979: The making and breaking of affectional bonds. Tavistock.
4. Bowlby, J. 1988: A secure base. Basic Books.
5. Bretherton, I. and Mulholland, K.A. 1999: Internal working models in attachment relationships: a construct revisited. In Cassidy J. and Shaver P.R., editors, Handbook of attachment: theory research and clinical applications. Guilford Press, 89-114.
6. Brown, S.R. 1974: Intensive analysis in political research. Political Methodology 1, 1-25.
7. Brown, S.R. The history and principles of Q methodology in psychology and the social sciences. Retrieved 26 August 2004, from http://facstaff.uww.edu/ cottlec/QArchive/Bps.htm
8. Brown, S.R. 1980: Political subjectivity: applications of Q methodology in political science. Yale University Press.
9. Brown, S.R. 1996: Q methodology and qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research 6, 561-67.
10. Cassidy, J. and Shaver, P.R. 1999: Handbook of attachment: theory, research and clinical applications. Guilford Press.
11. Crittenden, P.M. 1996: The modified adult attachment interview. Unpublished manuscript.
12. Dryzek, J.S. 1994: Australian discourses of democracy. Australian Journal of Political Science 29, 221-39.
13. Durning, D. and Osuna, W. 1994: Policy analysts' roles and value orientations. Journal of Policy Analysts and Management 13, 629-57.
14. Edelson, M. 1989: The nature of psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 9, 169-92.
15. Feeney, J.A. 1995: Adult attachment and emotional control. Personal Relationships 2, 143-59.
16. Feeney, J.A. and Noller, P. 1996: Adult attachment. Sage.
17. Feeney, J.A., Noller, P. and Hanrahan, M. 1994: Assessing adult attachment: developments in the conceptualisation of security and insecurity. In Sperling, M.B. and Berman, W.H., editors, Attachment in adults: clinical and developmental perspectives. Guilford Press, 128-52.
18. Felkins, P.K. and Goldman, I. 1995: Political myth as subjective narrative: some interpretations and understandings of John F. Kennedy. Political Psychology 14, 447-67.
19. Febbraro, A.R. 1995: On the epistemology, metatheory, and ideology of Q methodology: a critical analysis. In Lubek, I., van Hezewijk, R., Peterson, G. and Tolman, C.W., editors, Trends and issues in theoretical psychology. Springer.
20. Fraley, R.C. and Shaver, P.R. 1997: Adult attachment and the suppression of unwanted thoughts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79, 816-26.
21. Gallivan, J. 1994: Subjectivity and the psychology of gender: Q as a feminist methodology. In Gallivan, J., Crozier, S.D. and Lalande, V.M., editors, Women, girls and achievement. Captus University Publications.
22. Gillespie, J.D. 1993: Politics at the periphery: third party politics in two-party America. University of South Carolina Press.
23. Goldman, I. and Emke, I. 1991: Communi cation and Canadian identity: a Q-methodological study. Canadian Journal of Communication 16(1). Retrieved from http://www.cjc-online.ca/viewarticle.php?id=11&layout=html
24. Howe, D., Shemmings, D. and Feast, J. 2001: Age at placement and adopted people's experience of being adopted. Child and Family Social Work 6, 337-50.
25. Klein, M. 1932: The psycho-analysis of children. Hogarth Press.
26. Main, M., Kaplan, N. and Cassidy, J. 1985: Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: a move to the level of representation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 50, 66-104.
27. McKeown, D.F. and Thomas, D.B. 1988: Q methodology. Sage.
28. Mickelson, K.D., Kessler, K. and Shaver, P.R. 1997: Adult attachment in a nationally representative sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73, 1092-106.
29. Shemmings, D. 2004: Researching relationships from an attachment perspective: the use of behavioural, interview, self-report and projective measures. Journal of Social Work Practice 18, 299-314.
30. Sperling, M.B. and Berman, W.H., editors, 1994: Attachment in adults: clinical and developmental perspectives. Guilford Press.
31. Stainton Rogers, R. 1995: Q-methodology. In Smith, J.A., Harre, R. and van Langenhove, L., editors, Rethinking methods in psychology. Sage, 179-95.
32. Stevenson, W. 1953: The study of behaviour: Q-technique and its methodology. University of Chicago Press.
33. Taylor, P., Delprato, D.J. and Knapp, J.R. 1994: Q methodology in the study of child phenomenology. Psychological Record 44, 171-83.
34. Van IJzendoorn, M.H. and Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. 1997: Intergenerational transmis sion of attachment: a move to the contextual level. In Atkinson, L. and Zucker K.J., editors, Attachment and psychopathology. Guilford Press, 135-70.
35. Watts, S. and Stenner, P. 2005: Doing Q methodology: theory, method and interpre tation. Qualitative Research in Psychology 2, 67-91.
36. Zhang, F. and Labouvie-Vief, G. 2004: Stability and fluctuation in adult attachment style over a 6-year period. Attachment and Human Development 6, 419-38.