Padlet Method for online sorting (detailed)
Padlet is a free, online resource that we’ve found can be used for setting up and conducting Q research. We will start off with how to create your Q sort Padlet, then we will develop the “home page” where you will guide participants from the invitation to participate to post-sort questions.
How to develop the Q sort Padlet:
1. Create a free account with Padlet by going to padlet.com and creating a profile.
NOTE: the username you choose is the name participants will see on your Padlet home page
2. Once you’ve created a Padlet account, click the “make a padlet” button at the top left of the screen and select “shelf” option.
a. Title & Description: Title this page after your research and provide an information description including the sorting process (pre-sort, Q sort), the conditions of instruction, the prompt, and mention the post-sort questions.
b. Page Settings: The settings can be found by clicking the cog wheel at the top right of the screen. The settings you can control/change include: the title, the description, the use of an icon, the wallpaper color, the color scheme (e.g., dark or light mode), and the font style.
i. We suggest leaving all options under “posting” and “content filtering off”
3. Once you’ve updated the settings to your liking, you can add columns. These will be the columns used for the sorting process.
a. We suggest the following columns from left to right on the screen: unsorted statements, most unimportant/neutral/most important (or terms that match your sorting prompt), and then the - poles thru + poles identified for your Q sort.
b. We encourage clarifying the # of statements allotted per -/+ column. There is not currently a way to limit the number of entries per column, so it will be helpful for participants to see the allotted number per column.
4. Once you have created all the column headers, you can add the list of statements under the “unsorted statements” column. Click the + sign directly below the “unsorted statements” column and type out your first statement, repeat this until you’ve created each statement in your sort.
a. If you have already identified your randomized order of statements, it will be easier to create them in that order rather than rearranging them after typing them all in. For example: if my first few randomized statements are statements 5, 19, 10, 11, 4…, I would add the statements under the “unsorted statements” column in that order. I would type statement #5 first and type 5 on the bottom line of the entry; then I would create statement 19, then statement 10, and so on, until I’d added all statements in their pre-determined randomized order.
How to Develop Your Research Homepage:
Now that you’ve created the Q sort Padlet page, let’s create the research “homepage”. This homepage will host multiple aspects of your research, from the invitation to participate to the post-sort questions.
1. To create the homepage go back to your dashboard- this will be on a different tab than the Q sort page you just created. The tab for the dashboard will show up in the web browser as “dashboard”.
Once you are back in your dashboard, click the “make a padlet” button at the top left of the screen and select “canvas” option.
a. Title & Description: Title this page after your research and provide an information description if that would be additive to your homepage.
b. Page Settings: The settings can be found by clicking the cog wheel at the top right of the screen. The settings you can control/change include: the title, the description, the use of an icon, the wallpaper color, the color scheme (e.g., dark or light mode), and the font style.
i. We suggest leaving all options under “posting” and “content filtering off”
2. Once you’ve updated the settings to your liking, you can add “posts” to show each step of your research process. Click on the plus sign at the bottom of the screen on the right side, this will add a “post”, that looks like a box.
a. The boxes will show up progressively in the bottom left of the screen. To arrange them visibly on the homepage, click and hold on the outer frame of the box and drag the box to its desired location.
b. Boxes include a title line as well as a text space.
c. Other options available within each box include: uploading a document from your device, adding a hyperlink, searching the internet, taking a photo or recording video/voice, recording your screen, drawing on an onscreen canvas, adding a location, and linking to other padlets.
i. All these options are available by clicking on the ellipsis (…) at the bottom right of the box.
d. We will use a few of these features in setting up your Q study homepage.
3. The basic Q sort will have at least four boxes on the homepage: Invitation to Participate, Informed Consent, the Q Sort, and Post-Sort Questions. We describe below how to set up each suggested box:
a. Box 1: This box is your invitation to participate in research info form required by most IRBs. We have typed the title as “STEP 1: Invitation to Participate in Research” and in the text space copy and pasted our invitation to participate from our approved IRB\
b. Box 2: This box is your informed consent. Reminder- to add this second box go the bottom right of your screen and click on the + sign to add a box. You may need to move the box up and to the right of your first box. We have typed the title as “STEP 2: Informed Consent”. The informed consent form requires a signature or acknowledgement of reading and agreeing to the study. We have created a google form separate from the padlet that we then link into this box using the hyperlink image. HINT: make certain all your settings on the google form are accessible to participants.
c. Box 3: Create the new box, this box will be your Q Sort that was created earlier. We typed the title as “STEP 3: Q Sort Process” and clicked on the ellipsis (…) at the bottom right of the box, then chose “padlet” from the menu options. This will bring up an option bar on the right of your screen where other padlets you’ve created will appear. Click on the appropriate padlet- the one you created with your Q sort- and the padlet will be directly linked from your home page.
d. Box 4: Create the new box, this box will be your post-questions. You may choose to provide a written questionnaire (google form) or simply take notes as you verbally process the participant answers during the post-sort interview.
How to Set Up Time with Participants
1. Choose the video platform you will use and create the scheduled video call based upon your agreed upon interview time. We suggest Microsoft Teams or Zoom due to the share screen option.
2. Email to your participant the link to the video platform AND the link for your padlet homepage
a. To acquire the link for the homepage padlet, complete the following steps:
i. From you research homepage in Padlet, click the ellipsis (…) at the top right of the page.
ii. Scroll down and click on “share or embed”
iii. Click on the “change privacy” button
1. Click the “secret” option to keep your research homepage from becoming public
2. Click the dropdown menu to the right of the “visitor permissions” line and select “can edit”
NOTE- allowing participants the opportunity to edit gives them the ability to move statements during the Q sort. The edit capability also opens them up to add or delete statements in the Q sort or move items around on the homepage. This is why Q research using the Padlet approach is strongly encouraged to occur via video chat with shared screen.
iv. Once your privacy changes have been made, go back to the “share or embed” screen and click on “copy link to clipboard”. This will automatically copy the link and you can paste it into the email being sent to your participants.
During your Time with the Participant
Conducting your research with participants is simple once you’ve created your research homepage linked to your forms and Q sort. For information on how to conduct your research with your participant, please follow the steps below:
1. Once you are on the video call with the participant, give them access to share their screen.
2. Ask them to enact share screen and open the link to the research homepage in Padlet. You should be able to see the research homepage appear on their screen.
3. Conduct your research as you would in person by reviewing the invitation to participate (step 1), complete the informed consent form (step 2), and move into the Q sort padlet (step 3).
a. Once in the Q sort padlet, review the information you’ve typed in the description (e.g., conditions of instruction, sorting process, how to move the statements, do not add/change/delete statements).
i. NOTE: When moving statements, guide your participant to hover the statement above the plus sign of the column to which they are moving the statement, then drop once the plus sign has moved down to make space for the statement.
ii. NOTE: When they have completed the Q sort, the statements will stay where they were last placed even when the webpage is exited.
b. We encourage participants to zoom out from the padlet so they can see more of the statements and the column headers. To do this, instruct your participant to go to view on the top of their screen and scroll down to zoom out. They may need to repeat this a few times to be able to see more of the screen, but not so many times that they cannot easily read the statements.
c. We encourage you to review and hand record the completed Q grid. Then invite the participant to return to the research homepage and complete the questions/questionnaire (step 4) based on how you’ve set up the post-sort questions.
Resetting for the Next Participant
After you have concluded your time with a participant, you can go back into the Q sort padlet and reset the statements to the “unsorted” column by moving each statement. While this may seem tedious, it is a means to check that all statements are present in the unsorted column prior to the next participant’s sort.