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The Application of Q Methodology to Generate A Functional Typology of Terrorist Organizations in Turkey

Koçak, Murat

Abstract Details

2010, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science.
This research seeks to discover the nature of Turkish law enforcement officers’ (LEOs) perceptions of terrorism and terrorist organizations through the application of Q technique. Turkish LEOs’ perceptions reflect their personal experiences with terrorism as well as their agencies’ accumulated learning in a country that has had a terrorism history. The study uses Q methodology and research findings to create a typology of terrorist organizations in the Republic of Turkey, and it demonstrates that the methodology facilitates the investigation of terrorist organizations and their typical characteristics (i.e., distinguishing traits), including their methods of operation. Q technique permits the quantitative assessment of terrorist organizations and facilitates predictions about terrorist organizations, or types of terrorist organizations, that have likely been the perpetrators of past terrorist incidents. The study demonstrates how to make such predictions through application of quantitative assessments. Participants, providing data about terrorist organizations, are police investigators of counterterrorism units within the Turkish National Police and serve as expert informers in the research project. Nonprobability and snowball sampling of expert informers has resulted in 49 participants, who have produced 61 Q sorts comprised of 80 characteristics that are used in assessing 11 terrorist groups: Al Qaeda’s Turkish elements, Hizbullah, Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front, Marxist Leninist Communist Party, the Kurdistan Workers Party, and others. The correlation and factor analysis of individual Q sorts have resulted in comparative judgments about organizational profiles of different terrorist groups and types of groups. Factor analysis has also led to the discovery of five functional categories (or types) of terrorist organizations: ethno-separatist, intimidator religious, self-conscious religious, provocative religious, and communist.
Steven R. Brown (Committee Chair)
Mark Colvin (Committee Member)
Eric S. Jefferis (Committee Member)
Mark S. Fleisher (Committee Member)
Stephen Webster (Other)
210 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Koçak, M. (2010). The Application of Q Methodology to Generate A Functional Typology of Terrorist Organizations in Turkey [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1286681075

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Koçak, Murat. The Application of Q Methodology to Generate A Functional Typology of Terrorist Organizations in Turkey. 2010. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1286681075.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Koçak, Murat. "The Application of Q Methodology to Generate A Functional Typology of Terrorist Organizations in Turkey." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1286681075

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)