Q-Methodology in the Study of Child Phenomenology

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.