Q-methodology RIPLS
Q-methodology allows grouping people based on the similarities of their statement rankings via by-person factor analysis. By convention, Q study statements span positive, negative and neutral opinions about the topic of study and are ranked, by participants, relative to each other [For this study, the 19 statements of the RIPLS were used as the Q-sample. A Q-sort table was then developed with 19 cells, so that each statement could be ranked and ordered within the table to permit subsequent analyses. The Q-sort table approximates a normal distribution, such that the statement ranking assumes a forced normal distribution between strongly agree (+ 3) and strongly disagree (-3).To complete the study, participants were provided with the 19 RIPLS statements and a Q-sort table via a webpage. Following the methodology outlined by Brewer-Deluce, Sharma [Statements ranked under the “0” (zero) column reflect neither agreement nor disagreement. Each cell in the Q-sort table needed to be filled, and only one statement could be assigned. In cases where there were multiple cells for a given ranking (e.g., two statements could be ranked − 2), participants were informed the order in which they place two statements did not need to be considered. Finally, for the responses at either extreme (+ 3 and − 3, termed critical statements), participants were asked to write a brief statement to contextualize or justify their response. The completed data set of sorted statements constitutes the Q-sort. A representation of the digital Q-sort system is in Fig. 
Screenshot of the Q-scoring system presented to participants. After initially coarsely sorting the Q-statements into “disagree”, “neutral” and “agree” categories, participants would further specify the specific ranking they wished to associate with each statement by assigning it to an available cell in the Q-sort table. Statements could be rearranged at will by dragging and dropping the statement to a new cell until students were happy with their final sort, which they then submitted