The Taste Test: Applying Q Methodology to Aesthetic Preference

Abstract

The Taste Test examined if people’s aesthetic preferences translate from one medium to another – specifically, if they prefer similar genres of fine-art photography as they do in painting. Twenty-one graduate students in communication completed two separate Q sorts in which they ranked 40 paintings and 40 photographs from “most unappealing†to “most appealing.†The Q sorts were structured according to eight distinct types of art. A brief survey of demographic information and open-ended questions about artistic training and preferences was also used to analyze the data.