Q Methodology as a research methodology for human computer interaction

This paper briefly introduces the reader to QMethodology and suggests its suitability for research with the field of He!. Furthermore, this paper takes the perspective that HCI is largely aform ofhuman to human interaction. Thus design for HC! would need to take into account human understandings, of computers, systems, networks and software, by all types ofparticipants, iffruitfUl interaction between computers and people and the people who use them is to occur. This paper describes and suggests the use of an established methodology, QMethodology, for the examination of human perceptions in HCI. The example this paper gives is a study that is currently being done in a cross cultural setting to 'explore metaphorically based schema that individuals use to understand, information, information technology, and information seeking.