Q Methodology as Process and Context in Interpretivism, Communication, and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Research

This paper analyzes the underlying epistemological foundations of Q methodology as a science of subjectivity. Methodological issues are interrogated in the context of the linguistic and interpretive turns in the human sciences. The sociocultural inflections of Q as process are examined and contextualized in terms of its critique of objectivism and dualism. Distinctions are also drawn between Q and other interpretive perspectives. Q methodology as a cultural science is discussed in relation to neo-psychoanalytic perspectives and its effectivity as a psychotherapeutic research framework is demonstrated through a case study.

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