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

A Case Study of Using Metacognitive Reflections to Enhance Writing Skills and Strategies in an Agricultural Media Writing Course

Writing is a foundational skill in agricultural communications, and metacognition the learning and understanding of such skill. Integrating reflection into a writing course is one way to enhance students’ metacognition and metacognitive awareness as reflection provides writers an opportunity to become a critic of their writing experiences. However, what happens when students reflect on their metacognitive awareness during and throughout the writing process? Using a qualitative and quantitative content analysis, we interpreted 16 students’ metacognitive writing reflections at four points in an advanced media writing course. We identified and analyzed emergent themes from the reflections and measured the frequency of each theme over the duration of the course. Three major themes emerged: a) metacognitive awareness of writing skills, b) metacognitive awareness of writing strategies, and c) metacognitive awareness of knowledge transfer. A total of 13 sub-themes were identified further characterizing the themes. Interviewing (a writing skill) emerged more in the third reflection than any other time, and revision (a writing strategy) emerged more at the beginning and end of the course than in the middle. Additionally, participants reflected less about outcomes (a component of knowledge transfer) at the end of the course and more about their plans for the future. Findings support the value of metacognitive reflections as a transformational instruction tool. Practitioners and writing instructors in agricultural communications should be cognizant of skills, strategies, and knowledge transfer as they plan and implement writing education and be adaptive and flexible to meet students’ changing metacognitive awareness

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.

The Charge Form Factor of the Neutron at Low Momentum Transfer from the 2H⃗(e⃗,e′n)p^{2}\vec{\rm H}(\vec{\rm e},{\rm e}'{\rm n}){\rm p} Reaction

We report new measurements of the neutron charge form factor at low momentum transfer using quasielastic electrodisintegration of the deuteron. Longitudinally polarized electrons at an energy of 850 MeV were scattered from an isotopically pure, highly polarized deuterium gas target. The scattered electrons and coincident neutrons were measured by the Bates Large Acceptance Spectrometer Toroid (BLAST) detector. The neutron form factor ratio $G^{n}_{E}/G^{n}_{M}$ was extracted from the beam-target vector asymmetry $A_{ed}^{V}$ at four-momentum transfers $Q^{2}=0.14$, 0.20, 0.29 and 0.42 (GeV/c)$^{2}$.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let