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Q methodology

a set of research methods used to study how people think or feel about a topic. It includes, among other methods, Q-technique factor analysis, which attempts to identify shared ways of thinking; and Q sorts, in which participants are given statements about people and topics and asked to sort them into categories. Compare R methodology.

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Psychology term of the day

July 27th 2024

primary insomnia

primary insomnia

in DSM–IV–TR, a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty in initiating or maintaining a restorative sleep to a degree in which the severity and persistence of the sleep disturbance causes clinically significant distress, impairment in a significant area of functioning, or both. The disorder is not caused by a general medical condition or the effects of a substance and is not exclusively an aspect of another sleep disorder or mental disorder. It is termed insomnia disorder in DSM–5. See dyssomnia. Compare primary hypersomnia.