Innovations in Business Research

Abstract

We outline the basic principles of Q-Methodology and its current status in the study of social systems. Existing and ongoing research indicates that it bridges an important gap between qualitative and quantitative research by giving objective access to patterns of operative subjectivity in a community on a given issue. It is therefore easily allied to approaches such as critical realism and complexity that also attempt to transcend the qualitative quantitative divide. Mathematically it is allied to quantum theory rather than linear determinism, giving promising avenues for the systematic exploration of subjective-objective transitions such as the agency-structure problem in social theory. Q-Methodology makes valuable contributions to qualitative and quantitative research by providing new data and checking on unsupported speculation. It may be particularly relevant to ‘emerging’ economies where representation of research issues is discursively complex in comparison to that in ‘developed’ ones. Researchers still need to make informed decisions on whether to use it as a pattern analytic method or more, as the systematic study of subjectivity. Illustrative examples provide insight into its potential for innovative research in business and social science in Africa.