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Political Science Professor Presented Papers at International Conference

Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2008

Dr. James Rhoads, Westminster College associate professor of political science, presented two papers at the 24th annual Q Conference of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity Oct. 2-4 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Q Methodology is a research method used to study people's subjectivity or viewpoint. It has been used in clinical settings for assessing patients, as well as in research settings to examine how people think about a subject.

The first paper, "2008 Democratic Campaign: Perceptions of the Obama-Clinton Nomination Struggle," was co-authored with Syracuse University associate professor Dennis Kinsey.

The abstract explained: "The 2008 nomination battle between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama was the closest in modern Democratic Party history and attracted the close attention of the public. Because there seemed to be so little difference among the candidates in terms of issues and policy, the split among voters appeared to be related to the perceptions of the candidates by these voters. Were voters motivated in their choice by Sen. Clinton's 'experience,' Sen. Obama's 'judgment,' ties to the administration of Bill Clinton, 'post-partisanship,' gender, race, 'electability,' etc.?"

A strategy was used to exploit the advantages of Q Methodology to reveal a structure to these subjective viewpoints. A 45-statement Q-sample was culled from Internet blogs and administered to 27 participants in New Wilmington and 24 in Syracuse, N.Y. Factor analysis revealed three distinct viewpoints in Pennsylvania and two in New York. The paper showed these voters responded to issues involving experience, judgment, electability, etc., rather than to policy differences among the candidates.

The second paper, "Death of a President: Understandings of a Political Film," used Q Methodology to explore the subjectivity of viewers who had just seen the film. The documentary-style film Death of a President depicts the fictional assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush and uses the assassination to explore many political themes in post-9/11 America. 

Sixteen students in a political films class viewed the film and wrote reflective essays. Statements were drawn from the essays and returned to the students in the form of a Q-sort. Centroid analysis was used and factors were judgmentally rotated to a two-factor solution.

One factor saw the film in the prism of the Bush administration: respondents were critical of the president and the war on terror, and saw the film as a strong political statement.

The other factor, while generally supportive of Bush, was more focused on the film itself and the tension it created, and was bothered by the use of a sitting president as a target of assassination.

Rhoads, a past president of the Society, also chaired a panel at the meeting.

Rhoads, who has been with Westminster since 1992, earned an undergraduate degree, master's, and Ph.D. from Kent State University.

Contact Rhoads at (724) 946-7255 or e-mail jrhoads@westminster.edu for more information.

Dr. James Rhoads