Abstract
Phenomenological research Is difficult with young children who may lack the requisite verbo-vocal skills to faithfully communicate their experience. This study explored the applicability of Q-methodology as a way of overcoming this problem. Eight preschool children performed Q sorts of 18 pictorial stimulus objects under 8 conditions of instruction. Principal components analysis and Varimax rotation of the extracted factors yielded 3–4 factors for each child, and the factor structures varied over children. This indicates that each child’s experience was organized (not random) and that the children sorted the pictures in different ways under the different conditions of instruction; that is, the children’s experiences were unique. Furthermore, the limited number of significant factors suggests that the sorts shared common variance, that is, commonalities of experience among children. We discussed several commonalities between Q-methodology and phenomenological psychology and the descriptive advantages of Q-methodology for yielding phenomenal data under conditions of minimal researcher-imposed constraints.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BAARS, B. J., & BANKS, W. P. (1992). Editorial. Consciousness and Cognition. 1, 1–2.
BROWN, J. R., & DUNN, J. (1991). ‘You can cry, mum’: The social and developmental implications of talk about internal states. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 237–256.
BROWN, S. R. (1980). Political subjectivity. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
CACIOPPO, J. T., & PETTY, R. E. (1981). Social psychological procedures for cognitive response assessment: The thought-listing technique. In C. Glass & M. Genest (Eds.), Cognitive assessment (pp. 309–342). New York: Guilford Press.
COLLIER, G., & KUIKEN, D. (1977). A phenomenological study of the experience of poetry. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 7, 209–225.
ERICSSON, K. A., & SIMON, H. A. (1984). Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
EVERITT, B. (1974). Cluster analysis. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
GIORGI, A. (1970). Psychology as a human science. New York: Harper & Row.
HUSSERL, E. (1967). Ideas: General introduction to phenomenology. (W. R. B. Gibson, Trans.). London: Allen and Unwin. (Original work published 1913).
KANTOR, J. R. (1938). The operational principle in the physical and psychological sciences. The Psychological Record, 2, 1–32.
KANTOR, J. R. (1959). Interbehavioral psychology (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Principia Press.
KANTOR, J. R. (1963). The scientific evolution of psychology (Vol. 1). Chicago, IL: Principia Press.
KANTOR, J. R. (1969). The scientific evolution of psychology (Vol. 2). Chicago, IL: Principia Press.
KOCH, S. (1992). Psychology’s Bridgman vs Bridgman’s Bridgman. Theory & Psychology, 2, 261–290.
KOCKELMANS, J. J. (1971). Phenomenological psychology in the United States: A critical analysis of the actual situation. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 1, 139–172.
KUIKEN, D., SCHOPFLOCHER, D., & WILD, T. C. (1989). Numerically aided methods in phenomenology: A demonstration. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 10, 373–392.
KULKARNI, D., & SIMON, H. A. (1988). The process of scientific discovery: The strategy of experimentation. Cognitive Science, 12, 139–175.
LICHTENSTEIN, P. E., (1971). A behavioral approach to “phenomenological data.” The Psychological Record, 21, 1–16.
MERLEAU-PONTY, M. (1963). The structure of behavior (A. L. Fisher, Trans.) Boston, MA: Beacon Press. (Original work published 1942).
RAY, R. D., & DELPRATO, D. J. (1989). Behavioral systems analysis: Methodological strategies and tactics. Behavioral Science, 34, 81–127s.
SARTRE, J.-P. (1956). Being and nothingness. New York: Philosophical Library.
SCHAFER, R. (1978). Language and insight. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
STEPHENSON, W. (1953). The study of behavior: Q-technique and its methodology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
STEPHENSON, W. (1980). Newton’s fifth rule and Q methodology; Application to educational psychology. American Psychologist, 35, 882–889.
STEPHENSON, W. (1988). William James, Niels Bohr, and complementarity: V — Phenomenology of subjectivity. The Psychological Record, 38, 203–219.
VERPLANCK, W. S. (1970). An “overstatement” on psychological research: What is a dissertation? The Psychological Record, 20, 119–122.
VERPLANCK, W. S. (1983). Preface. In N. W. Smith, P. T. Mountjoy, & D. H. Ruben (Eds.), Reassessment in psychology: The interbehavioral alternative (pp. xi–xxv). Washington, DC: University Press of America.
WITTGENSTEIN, L. (1971). Philosophical investigations (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Taylor, P., Delprato, D.J. & Knapp, J.R. Q-Methodology in the Study of Child Phenomenology. Psychol Rec 44, 171–183 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395126
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395126