Q Methodology and "Going Critical": Some Reflections on the British Dialect

Abstract

In seeking to explain what Q methodology has made possible for those of us working within a critical "climate of perturbation" framework, we have employed the device of inventing a "British dialect of Q." While I would still hold to the argument that there is something distinct about our approach, that distinctiveness really requires a more encompassing tag than might be taken from the anodyne term "dialect." My ambition in this paper is to spell out our position (and mine within that) and to leave readers to make up their own minds as to whether we are; still operating in the Q-methodology community; schismatics; or, even, heretics.