Augmenting Social Media Research with Q Methodology: Some Guiding Principles

This paper proposes that social media studies could becomplemented with Q methodology when a topic that plays out insocial media is complex, controversial or sensitive to allow fordeep‑seated, integrated online and off‑line perspectives. Althoughthe Fourth Industrial Revolution brought researchers moreopportunities and advantages to study topics that were previouslyinaccessible, using technologies for research does not come withoutchallenges. This is especially the case with social media studiescomprising large datasets and where it is not always possible toidentify fake profiles, bots, spam or manipulated informationwithout having access to advanced data analysis software. Anotherpoint is that views expressed in social media do not alwaysrepresent offline perspectives. However, while Q methodology has,over the years, adapted its techniques to accommodate newtechnologies, more can be done to embrace a web 2.0 environment. Whyand how social media studies could be augmented with Q methodologyto reveal individuals’ perspectives and attitudes about topics willbe examined and potential difficulties will be highlighted. Not yeta mainstream method, Q methodology combines the strengths of tworobust qualitative and quantitative methods sequentially to revealand isolate the subjective perspectives of groups of participants.This methodology could, therefore, be useful when a social mediastudy puts forward novel ideas and findings that should be supportedby offline views. In this regard, the paper provides some guidelinesby referring to the five phases of a Q study and describing how asocial media study could not only benefit from but also apply Qmethodology to augment results. Supplementing social media researchwith Q methodology could be empowering and provide opportunities forfurther research and debate.