Abstract
Recent decades have witnessed increasing attention in theory and practice to participatory approaches to policy appraisal, in part due to the potential of such approaches to facilitate reflexive policy appraisal. It has been observed, however, that in practice these approaches are often as prone as traditional, non-participatory appraisal techniques to being limited in the extent to which that can achieve reflexivity e.g. due to the influence of interests and power and problems of representation. This article explores the extent to which Q Methodology, or ‘Q’, can play a role in ‘opening up’ (Stirling Science, Technology & Human Values, 33, 262–294, 2008) policy to reflexive appraisal. A Q study of fire management discourses in Cape York, northern Australia is presented which exposes the existence of four key discourses in the region: discourse A—rational fire management; discourse B—fire-free conservation; discourse C—pragmatic, locally controlled burning; and discourse D—indigenous controlled land management. At present only discourses A and C are reflected in policy. Appraising existing policy on the basis of the different constructions articulated by discourses B and D of the purpose of and practices involved in fire management, is successful in opening up existing policy to reflexive appraisal. In the face of considerable scientific uncertainty as to the ecological impacts of different burning regimes in northern Australia, this process of opening up has important potential for appraising the social desirability of existing policy and practice in the region. This analysis provides a practical demonstration of the wider potential of Q Methodology in opening up other important contemporary policy issues to reflexive appraisal. It also provides the basis for recommending the expansion of participatory processes for facilitating stakeholder engagement in fire management policy and practice in Cape York.
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Notes
For a fuller discussion of energy security in the context of the UK government's stance on new nuclear see Watson (2007).
Approximately 1,950,000 ha, or 14.2% of the total land area of Cape York in 2004 and increasing annually (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, personal communication 2005).
Wattle Hills is a 35,650 ha property in the northeast of Cape York and forms the study site for the ecological sampling undertaken as part of this thesis. The property was once managed as a cattle station but was taken over in 1984 by a group of people under the banner of a company named Scudo PLC. A community of Scudo PLC shareholders now live on Wattle Hills and manage the property on a self-sufficiency basis pursuing various sustainable forestry practices such as tree planting and seed harvesting. Their management practices include the routine exclusion of fire from the property through the upkeep of firebreaks along the property’s boundaries and pro-active fire fighting. Wattle Hills tends to be viewed as “alternative” by many other Cape York stakeholders.
From an applied perspective, a key text in terms of its application in political science is Steven Brown’s book “Political Subjectivity” (1980). Good, accessible summaries of how and when to conduct a Q-based study are also provided by Barry and Proops (1999) and Watts and Stenner (2005). Considerable work on the application of Q has also featured previously in Policy Sciences, see, for example, Martin and Steelman (2004) and Pelletier et al. (1999).
“R techniques” are so called due to their use of statistical correlation techniques, correlation coefficients being annotated as “r”.
See Martin and Steelman (2004) for an empirical comparison of the application of Q versus R techniques in the context of a single land management policy issue.
As Sudo PLC is a public limited company and therefore governed by company law, there is always the possibility that, if the majority of shareholders were in favour, a vote at an annual general meeting in favour of changing the existing no-burning fire policy could be carried.
PQMETHOD is DOS based freeware designed by Peter Schmolck. Contact Peter.Schmolck@unibw-muenchen.de.
The one exception to this is the use of statement 18 within the description of discourse B which was a distinguishing statement at the P < 0.05 or 95% confidence (rather than P < 0.01) level and was included due to the emphasis placed on it by respondents within their explanations of their Q sorts.
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Acknowledgements
My thanks to all the people who agreed to anonymously participate in this study and to Louise Sunderland for her help and support in developing and conducting the study. I also owe a sincere debt of thanks to an anonymous reviewer as well as Markku Lehtonen, Catherine Will and, particularly, Andy Stirling for their invaluable review of and comments on various drafts of this paper. Thanks also to Jon Lovett and Neil Carter for their continued guidance and support during this study and beyond. I gratefully acknowledge the Royal Geographical Society and the ESRC (award number PTA036200300022) for funding.
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Ockwell, D.G. ‘Opening up’ policy to reflexive appraisal: a role for Q Methodology? A case study of fire management in Cape York, Australia. Policy Sci 41, 263–292 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-008-9066-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-008-9066-y