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From RECL 3P25 Fall 2011 - Group 05 - Q-Sort
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| ==Background Information and History of Q-Sort== | ==Background Information and History of Q-Sort== | ||
| Q-sort was designed as part of Q-methodology which is "A way to study points of view on a specific topic by using factor analysis to reveal different perspectives in the form of factors" <ref>Hutson, Montgomery & Caneday, 2010, pp. 420</ref> Q-sort and Q-Methodology was invented in 1935 by William Stevenson whom had a PhD in both Psychology and Physics, and he invented the technique becuase he believed that peoples thoughts could be scientifically explored using a mathematical equation, which was O(nlogn). <ref>Hutson, G., Montgomery, D., & Caneday, L. (2010). Perceptions of Outdoor Recreation Professionals Toward Place Meanings In Natural Environments: A Q-Method Inquiry. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(3), pp. 417-442. Retrieved from: EBSCOhost</ref> | Q-sort was designed as part of Q-methodology which is "A way to study points of view on a specific topic by using factor analysis to reveal different perspectives in the form of factors" <ref>Hutson, Montgomery & Caneday, 2010, pp. 420</ref> Q-sort and Q-Methodology was invented in 1935 by William Stevenson whom had a PhD in both Psychology and Physics, and he invented the technique becuase he believed that peoples thoughts could be scientifically explored using a mathematical equation, which was O(nlogn). <ref>Hutson, G., Montgomery, D., & Caneday, L. (2010). Perceptions of Outdoor Recreation Professionals Toward Place Meanings In Natural Environments: A Q-Method Inquiry. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(3), pp. 417-442. Retrieved from: EBSCOhost</ref> | ||
| - | Traditionally the technique is used for allowing brainstorming to occur, and then sort them into the order of importance. < | + | Traditionally the technique is used for allowing brainstorming to occur, and then sort them into the order of importance. <ref>Pippard, J. L. & Bjorklund, R. W. (2003). Identifying Essential Techniques for Social Work Community Practice. Journal of Community Practice, 11(4), pp. 101-116. doi:10.1300/J125v11n04_06</ref> It is used to visually represent the importance of statements, and then have them displayed for the participating members of the study or community see in a more verbal way.<ref>Pippard, J. L. & Bjorklund, R. W. (2003). Identifying Essential Techniques for Social Work Community Practice. Journal of Community Practice, 11(4), pp. 101-116. doi:10.1300/J125v11n04_06</ref> Q-Sort is also used as it is a fast and effective way to reach desired outcomes. <ref>Pippard, J. L. & Bjorklund, R. W. (2003). Identifying Essential Techniques for Social Work Community Practice. Journal of Community Practice, 11(4), pp. 101-116. doi:10.1300/J125v11n04_06</ref> |
| The problem that it helps address in Community Recreation is virtually anything a recreation practitioner wants to explore. It best addresses a problem by collecting as many differences as possible, and allowing patterns and attitudes to be explored and then based on the data an educated decision can be made, and all members in the community have a chance to participate in the exploration, and discussions to have their opinions heard. | The problem that it helps address in Community Recreation is virtually anything a recreation practitioner wants to explore. It best addresses a problem by collecting as many differences as possible, and allowing patterns and attitudes to be explored and then based on the data an educated decision can be made, and all members in the community have a chance to participate in the exploration, and discussions to have their opinions heard. | ||
Revision as of 20:08, 21 November 2011
Q-sort As a Community Development Technique
Contents |
Definition
Q-sort, also known as Quick Sort is defined as "A divide and conquer algorithm which relies on partition operations: to partition an array, we choose an element, called a pivot, move all smaller elements before the pivot, and move all greater elements after it. This can be done effectively in linear time and in place. We then recursively sort the lesser and greater sub-lists. Efficient implementations of quicksort (with in-place partitioning) are typically unstable sorts and somewhat complex, but are among the fastest sorting algorithms in practice. Together with its modest O(nlogn) space usage, this makes quicksort one of the most sorting algorithms, available in many standard libraries. The most complex issue in quicksort is choosing a good pivot element; consistently poor choices of pivots can result in drastically slower (O(n2)) performance, but if at each step we choose the median as the pivot then it works in O(nlogn)". [1] An algorithum as referred to in the above definition is "A set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest common divisor." [2]A Pivot as again refered to in the above definition od Q-Sort is "the middle/medium point or fulcrum". [3]
Background Information and History of Q-Sort
Q-sort was designed as part of Q-methodology which is "A way to study points of view on a specific topic by using factor analysis to reveal different perspectives in the form of factors" [4] Q-sort and Q-Methodology was invented in 1935 by William Stevenson whom had a PhD in both Psychology and Physics, and he invented the technique becuase he believed that peoples thoughts could be scientifically explored using a mathematical equation, which was O(nlogn). [5] Traditionally the technique is used for allowing brainstorming to occur, and then sort them into the order of importance. [6] It is used to visually represent the importance of statements, and then have them displayed for the participating members of the study or community see in a more verbal way.[7] Q-Sort is also used as it is a fast and effective way to reach desired outcomes. [8]
The problem that it helps address in Community Recreation is virtually anything a recreation practitioner wants to explore. It best addresses a problem by collecting as many differences as possible, and allowing patterns and attitudes to be explored and then based on the data an educated decision can be made, and all members in the community have a chance to participate in the exploration, and discussions to have their opinions heard.
Application of Q-Sort
When should your technique be used? Q-Sort should be used when doing qualitative research of people’s opinions, attitudes or beliefs. It starts with one questions the researcher is trying to answer, and allows participants to rank their opinion of statements. With a collection of sample answers the researcher is able to then understand similar opinions of participants. (Dr. Garret Huttson) Who should use it? A researcher should use this with a specific sample group (i.e not random). These participants should have a variety of opinions regarding the topic. This is to ensure that there will be different outcomes for the ranking of statements to allow a wide range of responses. (Dr. Garret Huttson)
Who should it be used with? Q-Sort can be used with anyone who may have a strong opinion about a topic. Usually a sample will include no more than 40 participants and this is to avoid results being too different and not being able to identify a relation in answers. (Dr. Garret Huttson) When has the technique been used? Q-Sort was originally created for research done in psychology. Since it was first created it has also been used in the three following ways: 1. In outdoor recreation research to study “how forest management techniques influenced preferences and changes in recreational use over a 20 year period. 2. In Canadian university outdoor education programs, which studied the differences in education in two different countries. 3. In 2008 it was used to study the safety in mountaineering
Procedure of Q-Sort
Strengths of Q-Sort
Limitations of Q-Sort
Implementation Tips of Q-Sort
References
Hutson, G., Montgomery, D., & Caneday, L. (2010). Perceptions of Outdoor Recreation Professionals Toward Place Meanings In Natural Environments: A Q Method Inquiry. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(3), pp. 417-442. Retrieved from: EBSCOhost.
Pippard, J. L. & Bjorklund, R. W. (2003). Identifying Essential Techniques for Social Work Community Practice. Journal of Community Practice, 11(4), pp. 101-116. doi: 10.1300/J125v11n04_06
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/algorithm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pivot
External Links
Authors
Jodi Alexander, Anthony Budhwani, Nicole Caringi, Erin Leslie, Tshing Kasamba, and Lacey Smith
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