How and on what premise do researchers assign the name of an emerging factor (s) after extracting the factors whether using Centroid factor analysis or principal component analysis in Q-method research?
Below you will find some examples.
In the attached picture, for example- Factor A coined as: Intellectual Entrepreneur
Thank you
Hello Khondokar,
In any kind of factoring, usually one pays attention to variables having the strongest loadings with a given factor, as it is those that help one to characterize the nature of the factor.
I will note that the centroid solution, while serving remarkably well in its day to offer a tractable method for simple derivation of a factor solution, is overly biased towards yielding a single-factor solution. Principal axis or maximum likelihood are far better extraction methods to use.
Good luck with your work.
Based on my understanding of William Stephenson’s work, deciding how to name factors in Q is different than in R, i.e, traditional quantitative resarch. In R, researchers usually base names on the factor loadings. In Q, however, researchers usually place more emphais on factor scores.
This is an important distinction because the Cronbach’s alpha would have already played a role because items would likely have been subjected to previous reliability considerations, e.g., the Cronbach coefficient. The coefficient could be applied to Q statements, but that would result in high item variability since the various factors would respond differentially to most factors.
Therefore, consensus statements often used to help name Q factors because they have lower variability across participants, but they can also hide different meanings. As a result, I usually also draw on demographics and post-sort interviews to also assist with naming factors accurately.
From my experience, the names of factors are just a means of interpretation, which describe the mind-set of that respective factor. As Q-methodology aims to identify subjective viewpoints, the “Intellectual Entrepreneur” from your example is just an interpretation from the researchers, indicating how the personality of Factor A might look like.
From what I saw from previous Q-studies, the names of factors aim to provide a short catchy interpretation of a viewpoint. Hence, the “Intellectual Entrepreneur” from your example represents a group of educated people with a business background.
This naming just aims to facilitate the comparison between factors in my opinion. Since we are trying to group and identify people, it is easier to assign names instead of saying “Factor A people “ or “Factor B participants”.
Cheers,
Chris
In the practice of Q-methodology, people who are associated with one factor have something in common that differentiates them from those who are associated with the other factors. Factor loadings show each participant's association with each of the identified opinion types.
A type of factor analysis used to understand the major dimensions or “types” of people by identifying how they perceive different variables.
a type of factor analysis used to understand the major dimensions or “types” of people by identifying how they perceive different variables.
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