The Search for Structure: An Alternative to the Forced Q Sort Technique
FOR nearly five decades, but particularly during the last twenty years, the forced Q sort has held an important place in the social scientist's methodological repertoire. During this time, the forced Q sort technique and its analysis procedures have remained virtually unchanged, despite numerous criticisms (for example, Cronbach Gleser, 1953; Jones, 1956; Gaito, 1962) and methodological advances. This, of course, may be due to the robustness of the technique, as Brown (1971, 1980) has argued. Or, it may be due to the flaws in the various alternatives that have been suggested. Yet, the difficulties of the forced Q sort technique make the search for an alternative seem worthwhile. This paper reconsiders early criticisms of the forced Q sort technique, and it raises several new practical and epistemological concerns. It then suggests analytical procedures that are compatible with unforced formats, showing how data generated from unforced card sorting procedures can be analyzed using either a Q or an R methodology. THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE FORCED Q SORT TECHNIQUE The typical Q sort procedure requires respondents to arrange a number (h) of stimulus statements into several (g) categories according to some criterion of relevance, importance, applicability, or so forth. In these procedures, g is typically a function of h, with more categories