Using Q Methodology in Agricultural Communications Research: A Philosophical Study

Communication rests on human experience and the uniqueness of subjectivity. Varying research methods and designs measure subjectivity, but few measure subjectivity using rigorous statistical analysis. Q methodology offers such design and rigor. Yet, agricultural communications has been slow to adopt Q methodology. Therefore, the purpose of this philosophical study was to establish a contextual and philosophical understanding of Q methodology and articulate its uses in agricultural communications research. This philosophical study was without traditional research design and methods. Thus, knowledge gained from the literature and best practices were synthesized with the intent of creating a discussion of the philosophies, concepts, and application of Q methodology. To conduct human subjectivity research, Stephenson proposed Q-methodology. It uses a small number of participants to represent the variance of perspectives about a topic. By focusing on and capturing the holistic perspectives of participants, knowledge bases and understandings of humanistic elements within agricultural communications could be enhanced. Benefits of Q methodology include harnessing subjectivity as a means for testing ideas and characterizing perspectives about an idea, limiting researcher bias, and gaining meaningful data from fewer participants. Challenges include misconceptions and misinterpretations related to terminology, concourse development, and generalizability. Agricultural communications depends on human experience and subjectivity related to food and fiber production. Thus, implementing Q methodology research into the agricultural communications discipline diversifies the research toolbox and provides researchers and practitioners with opportunities to explore perspectives related to diverse agricultural issues

Characterizing Viewpoints of Scholars in Agricultural Communications as they Relate to Research Themes in the Journal of Applied Communications: A Q Methodological Study

Research in agricultural communications is not guided by a national research agenda. Therefore, the substantial body of research produced from scholars working in the discipline represents scattered efforts. We conducted a content analysis of journal articles published in the Journal of Applied Communications between 2000 and 2019 to identify the research themes that establish the discipline’s scholarly base. Through an examination of n = 259 journal articles, we identified N = 27 research themes, the most prevalent of which included agriculture and media relations/practices (f = 30; % = 11.58), public perceptions/understanding of agriculture and natural resources (f = 25; % = 9.65), and agricultural communications academic programs and curricula (f = 21; % = 8.11). Then, we used Q methodology to identify viewpoints of agricultural communications scholars (e.g., faculty, graduate students; n = 45) as they relate to perceptions about the importance of research. We identified four dominant viewpoints of scholars in agricultural communications: Message Framing Influencers, Extension-Focused Scholars and Practitioners, Discipline-Conscious Researchers, and Tech-Savvy Scholars. Together, these viewpoints explained 59.43% of the study variance. Although participants who represented each of these groups had unique perspectives, participants generally agreed that public perceptions/understanding of agriculture and natural resources and crisis communications in agricultural communications were important research themes. Likewise, they generally agreed that the role of agricultural communications professional organizations, agricultural communications efforts during historical events, and agritourism were not important research themes

Spin-Dependent Electron Scattering from Polarized Protons and Deuterons with the BLAST Experiment at MIT-Bates

The Bates Large Acceptance Spectrometer Toroid (BLAST) experiment was operated at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center from 2003 until 2005. The experiment was designed to exploit the power of a polarized electron beam incident on polarized targets of hydrogen and deuterium to measure, in a systematic manner, the neutron, proton, and deuteron form factors as well as other aspects of the electromagnetic interaction on few-nucleon systems. We briefly describe the experiment, and present and discuss the numerous results obtained.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.

Measurement of the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio from \vec ^1H(\vec e, e'p)

We report the first precision measurement of the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio from spin-dependent elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from a polarized hydrogen internal gas target. The measurement was performed at the MIT-Bates South Hall Ring over a range of four-momentum transfer squared $Q^2$ from 0.15 to 0.65 (GeV/c)$^2$. Significantly improved results on the proton electric and magnetic form factors are obtained in combination with previous cross-section data on elastic electron-proton scattering in the same $Q^2$ region.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR

Inclusive reactions of pions on nuclei

A systematic set of measurements of pion and proton yields from pion reactions on nuclei 4≤A≤180 has been performed for incident pions in the Δ(3,3) energy region. Detailed energy spectra for protons at many angles were obtained along with inclusive pion yields. The implications of general features of these data for the pion absorption and scattering processes are discussed