merge contributions by @valestammibene as per #15, closes #9

index.Rmd

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ author:
   - name: "Eleni Sarri"
     affiliation: "Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)"
   - name: "Valeria Scollo"
-    affiliation: "Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)"
+    affiliation: "L'Università Di Torino On Line"
 date: "`r format(Sys.time(), '%d %B, %Y')`"
 bibliography: library.bib
 editor_options: 
@@ -55,6 +55,34 @@ knitr::opts_chunk$set(
 
 *Valeria Scollo*
 
+Q-Methodology represents an innovative research method used  in social sciences in order to study people’s point of view, that is to say, their subjectivity. It was introduced by psychologist William Stephenson (1902 – 1989)  and, even though the method is described mainly as qualitative, it offers a combination of both qualitative and quantitative aspects, through the analysis of factors emerged during the study.
+
+> Most typically in Q, a person is presented with a set of statements about some topic, and is asked to rank-order them (usually from "agree" to "disagree"), an operation referred to as Q sorting. 
+> The statements are matters of opinion only (not fact), and the fact that the Q sorter is ranking the statements from his or her own point of view is what brings subjectivity into the picture.
+> [@brown-1993-a]
+
+
+### Our Story
+
+We are a group of five people: Eleni Sarri, Ngoc Tuyet Nhun, Patrick Hajjar, Valeria Scollo and our teacher and leader Maximilian Held. 
+
+As the title says, this project starts with the question „Imagine you are in a time loop: what would you do?“ and it aims to study individual’s subjectivity accordingly. 
+
+To begin with, our group proposed different topics that could represent the possible theme of the study:
+however, some of them involved arguments such as death, catastrophes and, generally speaking, events that could dishearten the participants.
+Coming up with a satisfactory research question proved to be quite challenging:
+there are many different topics through which it is possible to study people’s point of view and opinions on everyday life matters of our society like, for example, racism, feminism, money (…). 
+Since they mostly depends on personal background, culture and values, moral and ethical elements play an important role in the process of choosing the possible subject matter and, being the study of individuals’ point of view the goal of this project, to respect and to pay attention to their sensitiveness becomes a crucial priority for researchers.  
+Through brainstorming sessions and debates, we developed a -- maybe unusual -- topic:
+the so called “Groundhog” scenario.
+In this context, Q-Methodology becomes the best instrument that we have to study and to show  how people would react to an imaginary time loop that no one else is aware of and, to some extent, to understand their perceptions and opinions on a similar note.
+
+There is obviously no right or wrong way to provide individuals’ point of view,
+
+> Only subjective opinions are at issue in Q, and although they are typically unprovable, they can nevertheless be shown to have structure and form, and it is the task of Q-technique to make the form manifest for purposes of observation and study
+> [@Brown-1996].
+
+
 
 ## Methods
 
@@ -358,7 +386,23 @@ q.scoreplot.ord(results = quartimax, factor = 3, incl.qdc = FALSE, quietly = TRU
 
 ## Conclusion
 
-*all authors*
+### Valeria Scollo
+
+Q-methodology represents an innovative research approach to study attitudes of the stakeholders, however it is still not widely used in all disciplines. 
+
+It obviously presents some advantages and disadvantages. 
+For example, one of the main limitations is that the Q sorting is quite time-consuming and it needs to be carefully explained to participants, since they are not familiar with it and sometimes they could not exactly understand how to proceed: 
+validity can be compromised by the misinterpretation of some items. 
+
+Furthermore, Q methodology is limited only to small samples, therefore results can't be generalised to the rest of the population. 
+At the same time, anybody can take part to a project on Q Methodology: 
+although some participants may not have a specific idea about the topic, they can still share their perspective just from reading the statements and sorting them.
+
+Compared to other approaches, Q-Method could be considered more accurate: it proposes a question and its respective answers, which are "already decided" by researchers. 
+Whereas asking the same question without any given instruction -for example, during an interview- could let the stakeholders swerve from the question line,  Q Methodology leads people toward different paths, which are, however, limited according to the cards and it permits to study subjects' specific point of view accordingly, without deviating from the original goal. 
+
+Finally, lots of individuals that took part to the project defined this new approach as "fun" and "amusing": 
+overall, Q-Methodology gains its interesting role in the sociology research field, being not only an innovative and functional new way to study subjectivity for researcher, but also an enjoyable method for its public.
 
 
 ## References

introduction.md

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+The Q-Methodology represents an innovative research method used  in social sciences in order to study people’s point of view, that is to say, their subjectivity. It was introduced by psychologist William Stephenson (1902 – 1989)  and, even though the method is described mainly as qualitative, it offers a combination of both qualitative and quantitative aspects, through the analysis of factors emerged during the study.
+
+>Most typically in Q, a person is presented with a set
+>of statements about some topic, and is asked to rank-order
+>them (usually from "agree" to "disagree"), an operation referred
+>to as Q sorting. The statements are matters of opinion
+>only (not fact), and the fact that the Q sorter is ranking the
+>statements from his or her own point of view is what brings
+>subjectivity into the picture (Brown 1993)
+
+#### Our Story:
+
+
+We are a group of five people: Eleni Sarri, Ngoc Tuyet Nhun, Patrick Hajjar, Valeria Scollo and our teacher and leader Maximilian Held. 
+
+As the title says, this project starts with the question „Imagine you are in a time loop: what would you do?“  and it aims to study individual’s subjectivity accordingly. 
+\
+To begin with, our group proposed different topics that could represent the possible theme of the study:  however, some of them involved arguments such as death, catastrophes and, generally speaking, events that could dishearten the participants. Coming up with a satisfactory research question proved to be quite challenging : there are many different topics through which it is possible to study people’s point of view and opinions on everyday life matters  of our society like, for example, racism, feminism, money (…).  Since they mostly depends on personal background, culture and values, moral and ethical elements play an important role in the process of choosing the possible subject matter and, being the study of individuals’ point of view the goal of this project, to respect and to pay attention to their sensitiveness becomes a crucial priority for researchers.  
+Through  brainstorm sessions and debates, we developed a -maybe unusual- topic: the so called “Groundhog” scenario. In this context, Q-Methodology becomes the best instrument that we have to study and to show  how people would react to an imaginary time loop that no one else is aware of and, to some extent, to understand their perceptions and opinions on a similar note.
+\
+There is obviously no right or wrong way to provide individuals’ point of view,
+
+>Only subjective opinions are at issue in Q, 
+>and although they are typically unprovable,
+>they can nevertheless be shown to have structure and form, 
+>and it is the task of Q-technique to make the form manifest for purposes of observation and study (Brown, 1986).