Inverted Factor Analysis Research Articles

Teachers as silencers: a Q methodology study into teachers’ characteristics contributing to unwillingness to communicate among foreign language learners

ABSTRACT Purpose This Q methodology study explored foreign language learners’ divergent viewpoints on teachers’ characteristics that contribute to unwillingness to communicate (unWTC). Design/methodology/approach Q sorting was administered in-person with 40 Chinese undergraduate students enrolled in several Thai as a Foreign Language courses at a university in Thailand. The students sorted 30 statements, each reflecting distinct teacher characteristics that potentially silence them in the classroom, onto a forced-distribution grid. All Q sorts were analyzed using inverted factor analysis, followed by semi-structured interviews with six of the participants. Findings The findings revealed three profiles of characteristics that contribute to L2 unWTC, namely, the impatient teacher, the uninspiring teacher, and the intimidating teacher. These profiles were found to hinder different groups from engaging in L2 communication. The findings are discussed in relation to relevant educational theories, and implications are presented. Originality/value This study highlights the importance of understanding and addressing specific teacher behaviors that influence learners’ L2 WTC. By identifying and mitigating these behaviors, educational institutions can create more supportive and encouraging learning environments that promote greater engagement and success in language learning.

Exploring complex multilingual motivation types among Chinese students majoring in dual foreign languages: a Q method study

ABSTRACT Researches on L2 motivation have traditionally exhibited a monolingual bias. However, the concept of a multilingual motivational system has gradually gained attention in recent studies. This study examines the multilingual motivation types and components among 50 students majoring in dual foreign languages in China. To explore diverse motivation types and cross-linguistic differences in multilingual motivations, Q methodology, which shares features of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, was employed. Retrospective interviews were also conducted after data analysis to gain a more profound understanding. The students’ shared viewpoints were identified through multiple inverted factor analysis, which were further verified by the interview results. Findings indicate that, within the framework of the L2 Motivation Self System, the multilingual self serves as the initial motivation for students choosing dual language majors. Notably, the ought-to language self is more significant than the ideal language self. Additionally, students majoring in different L3 exhibit distinct types of multilingual motivation. The study has some pedagogical importance of incorporating translanguaging backgrounds into teaching strategies and offers specific recommendations for language teachers working with students majoring in dual foreign languages in China.

Identifying the priorities for supervision by lived experience researchers: a Q sort study

BackgroundLived experience researchers draw on their lived and living experiences to either lead on or inform research. Their personal experiences are relevant to the research topic and so they must manage the interplay of their health and healthcare experiences with the research, population, and data they work with, as well as the more general challenges of being a researcher. Lived experience researchers must navigate these dilemmas in addition to queries over their competency, due to issues relating to intersectionality and epistemic injustice. This justifies a motivation to better understand the experiences of lived experience researchers and develop appropriate and personalised supervision based on their preferences and needs. MethodsQ methodology was used to identify a collection of identity-related issues that impact lived experience researchers during PhD research in the context of the UK. These issues were presented in the form of 54 statements to 18 lived experience researchers to prioritise as topics to explore in supervision.ResultIt was found that lived experiences researchers could be grouped into three distinct factors following an inverted factor analysis: Factor 1: Strengthening my identity, skills, growth, and empowerment; Factor 2: Exploring the emotional and relational link I have with the research and Factor 3: Navigating my lived and professional experiences practically and emotionally. The findings suggest that there may be three types of lived experience researchers, each with different needs from supervision, suggesting the population is heterogeneous.ConclusionThe research identified a deeper understanding of the needs of lived experience researchers and highlights the importance of personalised supervision according to the individual needs of the researcher and their preferences for supervision. The findings reinforce the importance of integrating a clinical dimension into supervision to support the needs of all lived experience researchers.

Advancing collaboration in health professions education in the general practice domain, developing a national research agenda

BackgroundHealth professions education (HPE) research in the General Practice domain (GP-HPE) is vital for high-quality healthcare. Collaboration among GP-HPE researchers is crucial but challenging. Formulating a research agenda, involving stakeholders, and fostering inter-institutional collaboration can address these challenges and connect educational research and practice.MethodsWe used Q-methodology to explore perspectives on GP-HPE research of participants from all Dutch postgraduate GP training institutes. Participants individually sorted statements based on the relevance of future GP-HPE research for educational practice. Data analysis comprised inverted factor analysis, rotation, and qualitative interpretation of configurations of all statements. The National Meeting on Educational Research took a participatory approach.ResultsWe included 73 participants with diverse involvement in GP-HPE research. We identified five distinct perspectives, each representing a research focus area for developing and innovating GP education: the clinician scientist, the socially engaged GP, the specific GP identity, the GP as an entrepreneur, and the GP engaged in lifelong learning.DiscussionThe resulting five perspectives align with General Practice hallmarks. Q-methodology and a participatory approach facilitated collaboration among stakeholders. Successful inter-institutional collaboration requires a common goal, neutral leadership, participant commitment, regular meetings, audit trail support, process transparency, and reflexivity. Future research should address evidence gaps within these perspectives.ConclusionUsing Q-methodology turned out to be valuable for compiling a national research agenda for GP-HPE research. The research process helped to cross boundaries between researchers in different institutions, thus putting inter-institutional collaborative advantage center stage. Our approach could provide a conceivable procedure for HPE researchers worldwide.

Collective teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism in Maltese primary education

ABSTRACT Traditionally bilingual Maltese school populations are increasingly linguistically diverse, due to intensified migration flows. To shed light on central issues to be addressed by policy makers, school administrators, researchers and teacher trainers, collective beliefs of Maltese primary school teachers regarding their conceptual understanding and pedagogical actions concerning multilingualism are investigated. Through the application of Q methodology and focus group interviews, data from twenty-one in-service teachers from six different colleges were collected. Using inverted factor analysis, three factors were extracted for each of the components (understanding and pedagogy). Detailed narratives for each group of collective teachers’ beliefs were described and supplemented with teachers’ validating comments. Findings indicate that having a positive understanding of multilingualism does not necessarily imply positive pedagogical beliefs and vice versa. In Malta’s inherently bilingual education system, teachers tend to accept and welcome children’s languages in their classrooms and encourage the learning of additional languages. However, possibly due to a lack of adequate training on the subject, there is scepticism regarding whether and how to effectively draw on multilingualism in the classroom. Additionally, the need arises for more teacher autonomy and agency to make decisions regarding classroom language practices, and for a more comprehensive Maltese national language education policy.

A scoping review of Q-methodology in healthcare research

BackgroundQ-methodology is an approach to studying complex issues of human ‘subjectivity’. Although this approach was developed in the early twentieth century, the value of Q-methodology in healthcare was not recognised until relatively recently. The aim of this review was to scope the empirical healthcare literature to examine the extent to which Q-methodology has been utilised in healthcare over time, including how it has been used and for what purposes.MethodsA search of three electronic databases (Scopus, EBSCO-CINAHL Complete, Medline) was conducted. No date restriction was applied. A title and abstract review, followed by a full-text review, was conducted by a team of five reviewers. Included articles were English-language, peer-reviewed journal articles that used Q-methodology (both Q-sorting and inverted factor analysis) in healthcare settings. The following data items were extracted into a purpose-designed Excel spreadsheet: study details (e.g., setting, country, year), reasons for using Q-methodology, healthcare topic area, participants (type and number), materials (e.g., ranking anchors and Q-set), methods (e.g., development of the Q-set, analysis), study results, and study implications. Data synthesis was descriptive in nature and involved frequency counting, open coding and the organisation by data items.ResultsOf the 2,302 articles identified by the search, 289 studies were included in this review. We found evidence of increased use of Q-methodology in healthcare, particularly over the last 5 years. However, this research remains diffuse, spread across a large number of journals and topic areas. In a number of studies, we identified limitations in the reporting of methods, such as insufficient information on how authors derived their Q-set, what types of analyses they performed, and the amount of variance explained.ConclusionsAlthough Q-methodology is increasingly being adopted in healthcare research, it still appears to be relatively novel. This review highlight commonalities in how the method has been used, areas of application, and the potential value of the approach. To facilitate reporting of Q-methodological studies, we present a checklist of details that should be included for publication.

Aged care residents' prioritization of care: A mixed-methods study.

BackgroundEliciting residents’ priorities for their care is fundamental to delivering person‐centred care in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Prioritization involves ordering different aspects of care in relation to one another by level of importance. By understanding residents’ priorities, care can be tailored to residents’ needs while considering practical limitations of RACFs.ObjectivesTo investigate aged care residents’ prioritization of care.DesignA mixed‐methods study comprising Q methodology and qualitative methods.Setting and participantsThirty‐eight residents living in one of five Australian RACFs.MethodParticipants completed a card–sorting activity using Q methodology in which they ordered 34 aspects of care on a pre‐defined grid by level of importance. Data were analysed using inverted factor analysis to identify factors representing shared viewpoints. Participants also completed a think‐aloud task, demographic questionnaire, post‐sorting interview and semi‐structured interview. Inductive content analysis of qualitative data was conducted to interpret shared viewpoints and to identify influences on prioritization decision making.ResultsFour viewpoints on care prioritization were identified through Q methodology: Maintaining a sense of spirituality and self in residential care; information sharing and family involvement; self‐reliance; and timely access to staff member support. Across the participant sample, residents prioritized being treated with respect, the management of medical conditions, and their independence. Inductive content analysis revealed four influences on prioritization decisions: level of dependency; dynamic needs; indifference; and availability of staff.ConclusionsRecommendations for providing care that align with residents’ priorities include establishing open communication channels with residents, supporting residents’ independence and enforcing safer staffing ratios.

Teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism: findings from Q method research

ABSTRACTThis study explores teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism and multilingual students in Swedish primary schools. The aim is to support a better-informed discussion about teachers’ decision-making in linguistically diverse classrooms in the European nation-state. The use of Q method combines qualitative and quantitative data analyses. Q material applied in the present study provided the participants with all the necessary language to describe their beliefs. Two Q sets of statements – one regarding the understanding of the phenomenon and the other concerning suggested pedagogical responses in relation to current multilingualism – were constructed using a variety of sources. The participants are forty teachers, predominantly female, employed at three different primary schools in southern Sweden. Applying inverted factor analysis and abductive interpretation, three sets of teachers’ beliefs emerged and descriptions represent the teachers’ complex views about multilingualism in the classroom. Overall, teachers’ beliefs are rather welcoming towards multilingualism and multilingual students and recent concepts with growing acceptance in literature, such as translanguaging, are well accepted. However, sceptical views, often based on monolingual ideologies are present and are likely to pose challenges for the implementation of pluralistic policies. This study contributes to an open debate about benefits and challenges of current multilingualism in education.

How school staff understand the relationship between problem behaviours and language difficulties

This exploratory study adopted a mixed methods methodology, a critical realist ontological stance and a constructionist epistemological position to consider how special educational needs coordinators and pastoral managers in mainstream high schools understand the relationship between problem behaviours and language development. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants, and 20 participants completed a Q sort. The interview data were analysed using thematic analysis and in Q methodology an inverted factor analysis with a qualitative interpretation of the resultant factors was used. Triangulation was adopted as the method for the final integration of the data. Three meta-themes were identified indicating that, despite a range of recent initiatives, school staff continue to have a limited understanding of the relationship between problem behaviours and language difficulties. Previous experience and existing practice were drawn upon in considering causal relationships and interventions. Implications for educational psychology practice at casework, systems and commissioning levels are addressed.

Q Methodology as the Foundation for a Science of Subjectivity

William Stephenson's 1935 letter to the Editor of Nature, published 60 years ago, contains within its four short paragraphs all the essentials for a science of subjectivity. Focusing on two studies - on the controversies surrounding animal experimentation and of problem selection in policy analysis - illustrations are provided of the new phenomena brought to light through inverted factor analysis, and of the advantages of experimentation which Q methodology enjoys. A proposed study on food habits demonstrates how experimental probes can be made into the cognitive and orectic aspects of nutrition and food choice. The conclusion is reached that Q methodology remains the foundation of the study of subjective behavior.

A Top Management Personal Values Typology: Inverted Factor Analysis Approach to a Conglomerate

Although there has been considerable attention in recent years given to the personal values of top (central) management, there has been relatively little based upon empirical study. This empirical explor atory study reports an inverted factor analysis approach to developing a personal value typology of a management team of a highly success ful conglomerate. Although the validity of this study is tentative be cause of its small sample, the results substantiate other studies in suggesting a two-dimensional typology of personal values in manage ment teams: moralistic-humanistic and pragmatic.

On the use of inverted factor analysis for generating typologies.

On the use of inverted factor analysis for generating typologies.

An Inverted Factor Analysis of Personality Differences between Career- and Homemaking-Oriented Women

AbstractForty-six adult women were classified as career women or homemaker, then administered an array of 200 Items from the OPI. It was hypothesized that an inverted factor analysis of the Ss' responses to the OPI would disclose that the two groups were of basically different personality types. No groups of career women were discovered. However, with regard to the homemakers, two distinguishable types were produced, one being characterized by an “active-practical-social” orientation, and the other group by a “passive-theoretical-nonsocial”, orientation.It was concluded that it may be possible to distinguish between career women and homemakers on a typological basis, and the implications of such a possibility were discussed.

The psychiatric validity of an inverted factor analysis of Rorschach scoring categories.

The psychiatric validity of an inverted factor analysis of Rorschach scoring categories.

An Inverted Factor Analysis Study of Student-Rated Introductory Psychology Instructors

THE PROBLEM of defining the important and relevant characteristics of teachers has a long and somewhat fruitless history. Many at tempts have been made to isolate the essential differences between effective and ineffective tea chers, typically for the future construction of selection instruments. Autobiographies of gen erally recognized great teachers, descriptions written by students about their best-remembered teachers, quantitative test records of good and poor teachers, and a host of other devices have been used. This has been a particularly import ant problem in the selection of elementary and secondary school teachers as Beecher's recent review indicates (1). None of the attempts has proven very fruitful. Schools of education still depend today on the personal evaluation of pros pective teachers by more or less experienced in terviewers. Little attention has been devoted to the char acteristics of college teachers in contrast to the mass of research on elementary and secondary school levels. A recent government report (7) suggests that the main objectives in the training of college teachers is the development of com petent scholars and research workers and that little attention is paid to the development of teach ing skills. One method of defining important teaching characteristics may prove to be the so-called inverted factor or Q-technique of factor analysis. A series of quantitative measurements on a group of teachers may be inter cor related and the re sulting matrix of correlations factor analyzed to derive a set of independent factors that can ade quately describe the intercorrelations between the teachers. Behavorial descriptions of these factors may then help us in devising independent predictive measures of these important teaching variables. The present study was concerned with the ap plication of inverted factor analysis techniques to a large group of student ratings of introductory psychology instructors. It has been previously shown that student ratings can reflect individual differences between instructors (3). Whether from these same ratings significant and independ ! ent constellations of teaching behaviors can be determined was investigated in this research.

Some Uses of Stephenson's Q-Technique in the Quantification of the Individual

In searching for improved methodologies for quantifying the individual, one easily becomes confused today amidst the conflicting, contradicting, yet stimulating and exciting possibilities of scales without a unit of measurement(3), r-technique, Q-technique, P-technique, O-technique, S-technique, and T-technique.(2) In spite of whatever enthusiasms one might have about any of these techniques, he is probably willing to admit that none of them, nor all of them combined, are yet able to solve all of our problems of quantifying the individual. Yet, it must be admitted that each of them is worth knowing about and that the rationale underlying each represents a valuable and important trend in present day psychological measurement. Customary factorial procedures used in the study of personality, referred to as r-technique, employ tests or attributes as variables and persons as the population. Intercorrelations are between test scores and serve to explore individual differences. P-technique is concerned with the intercorrelations of test scores or other attributes within a single individual(2). O-technique, its companion, is concerned with intercorrelations within the same individual on different occasions. S-technique permits the study of social roles and the organization and structure of social groups such as the family and involves the intercorrelation of an individual in different situations. Q-technique, or inverted factor analysis according to Stephenson's terminology(7) and transposed factor analysis according to Cattell's terminology'(2, employs persons as variables instead of tests or other single attributes. It permits a direct representation of non-quantified observation in a manner making possible statistical analysis. The verbal descriptions of the clinician are reduced to their essential details. Statements representing a universe of traits used by an author such as Jung, Rorschach, Murray, Fromm, Freud, et cetera in describing personality constitute a sampling source in terms of which personalities may be described and correlated. Since it is the purpose of this paper to discuss the uses of Q-technique, no attempt will be made to discuss further the nature of these other techniques nor their relative merits. The issue as to whether they are basically the same or totally different will not be argued. That will be left to

A FACTOR ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ESSAY READERS

ABSTRACTInverted multiple factor analysis is used to examine a 20 × 20 matrix of correlations of English essay readers, based on 38 essays. A large general factor indicates considerable agreement among the readers. Three weak group factors suggest the existence of consistent schools of thought concerning the quality of English essays although it is possible that they are due to chance groupings. The intrinsic validity of an achievement test is discussed in relation to inverted factor analysis.

Introduction to inverted factor analysis, with some applications to studies in orexis.

Introduction to inverted factor analysis, with some applications to studies in orexis.