Q sort
a data-collection procedure, often used in personality measurement, in which a participant or independent rater sorts a broad set of stimuli into categories using a specific instruction set. The stimuli are often short descriptive statements (e.g., of personal traits) printed on cards. Examples of the instruction set are “describe yourself,” “describe this child,” and “describe your friend.” In the classic or structured Q sort, raters are constrained to use a predetermined number of stimuli in each category. Often, general categories are used to reflect the normal distribution, with raters assigning fewer stimuli to the extreme categories and many more stimuli to the middle categories. See Q methodology.