The Use of Q Methodology as a Participatory Tool in Natural Resources Management

Policymakers, practitioners, and governing bodies increasingly recognize the critical role stakeholder engagement plays in successful environmental planning and decision-making. Although stakeholder engagement can improve project outcomes, identifying best practices for stakeholder engagement that apply to diverse topics and settings can be a challenge. Informed by our experience using Q methodology (QM) in five stakeholder meetings in agricultural watershed across the United States, this paper highlights our use of QM as an engagement tool and provides insights for future use. It demonstrates how QM addresses fundamental stakeholder engagement principles and provides guidance on using QM in stakeholder meetings. While we acknowledge inherent QM limitations regarding stakeholder participation and competent facilitators, we used QM to provide a flexible meeting structure that allowed participants to develop opinions and safely engage with peers and decision makers on complex and, at times, controversial topics.