Course-Based Projects

Along with the active "democratic deliberation" that is supposed to lead to our reading for Part II of the capstone, we are obligated or empowered -- depending on your angle of vision -- to design from scratch "original research projects" on issues of interest. For reasons of practicality as well as epistemology, the prevailing practice is to conduct a series of Q studies, in the process learning about the logistics and concrete steps taken to identify a problem, sample theoretically from a "concourse" (the term was used by Dryzek; it simply refers to the volume of subjective discussion surrounding a given topic) to construct a Q sample (to be administered to members of our class and to other selected respondents, known as a P-set in Q), enter data and oversee its analysis in available freeware designed specifically for the analysis of Q sorts, how to write up a study, and share the findings with classmates and others who may be interested.



The range of topics is virtually infinite since subjectivity is everywhere in the political and social worlds. Some have expressed an interest in the issues -- or raw nerve -- struck by the "Academically Adrift" book claiming to document the failure of college for a huge percentage of students in critical thinking, analytical reasoning and writing. This volume has spawned a vast concourse of commentary--one in the Room for Debate section of the New York Times that has six pages of online comments added by readers, too--and it cries out for a Q study. Others have expressed an interest in several other topics that are well-suited for Q studies, e.g., the nature of the Tea Party (from the inside out), why Sarah Palin fans are drawn to her, where the Republican (and Democratic) party is or should be at this point in time. What, from the standpoint of ordinary citizens, is at the root of the US's current "governing crisis?" What is distinctive, if anything, about liberal learning--in principle, and/or in practice here at WC? What can we discover about the nature of student expectations about their educations here -- what they'll study, how, with what levels of rigor, with what pay-offs? And how do these expectations differ across and within majors, how do they get "communicated"?

All of these are off-the-top suggestions. There are dozens more of possibilities that we can devise and execute in the time remaining. In the event that two persons -- no more that two -- wish to pursue a collaborative inquiry, I'm open to the possibility providing the problem is clearly defined and can profit from a genuinely collaborative examination.

For those not familiar with Q at all, except perhaps from performing Q sorts for the Intro class, I will be sharing some brief primers electronically. For those whose curiosity is endowed with motivational energy, I'd recommend Steve Brown's Political Subjectivity (Yale, 1980), or Bruce McKeown & Dan Thomas, Q Methodology (Sage, 1988), copies of which are in the library or available for loan by me.

Think about behavior that's of interest to you and it's more than likely amenable to study by Q.
The principal organization that fosters professional conferences on Q is simply QMETHOD.ORG, and you can browse the link to the journal published by the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity (ISSSS), Operant Subjectivity. There are some 34 issues with abstracts online to give you an idea of the sort of stuff that has been done. My guess is that there will be some of you who "get it" even though Q represents an alternative approach to science than that discussed by Ricci and featured in most textbooks.