Social Constructionism Redefined: Human Selectionism and the Objective Reality of Q Methodology

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how social constructionism can be used make
sense of studies in the Q methodological tradition. In order to
maximize the effectiveness of this demonstration, the paper seeks to
clarify the term ‘social constructionism’ and to correct some avoidable
misunderstandings. Social constructionism is presented as a realist
ontology, the difference between constructionism and constructivism is
discussed, and the new term ‘human selectionism’ is introduced. In the
final section, a physical analogy is then employed to demonstrate the
principles of human selection at work and in order to illustrate one
possible interpretation of the Q methodological procedure. The tendency
for distinct ‘groupings-of-individuals’ (and hence distinct factors) to
be discernible in multi-participant Q methodological data is also
discussed.