Q Methodology, Textuality, and Tectonics

Abstract

Along with the paper from Rex Stainton Rogers, and that from Simon Watts and
Paul Stenner, this paper seeks to explain and illustrate to and why the Q
work we are doing here (mainly in the UK, but also with some colleagues
elsewhere) differs from the work with a much longer history which has
been undertaken by Q scholars in the USA and their students and proteges
(again, this includes work outside the primary geographical locus).
While our work has much in common with the latter, there are significant
differences both in our approach to carrying out Q studies and in our
objectives. Our interest in Q arose from a theoretical location within a
"climate of perturbation" framework, drawing from "French Theory." Q
met our need for an idiographic methodology, and offered us a highly
effective means to conduct discourse analytic work. We use Q to address
issues of power and knowledge, and their interplay, using analytics of
textuality and tectonics. These terms are defined and an illustration is
provided to show how Q can be used in this way.