Feminist Research Methods

Feminist Research Methods course goes so fast; this is its sixth week. When I reflect back to the beginning of the course, I find that I really learned many new concepts, skills and experiences.   

I learned that I as a researcher have to pay attention to my location/locations both within the research context and in broader social contexts in order to undertake ethical research, especially in collaborative research contexts. I learned that I have to be aware of how my own positions and interests are imposed at all stages of the research process-from the questions I ask to those I ignore, from whom I study to whom I ignore, from problem formation to analysis, representation, and writing- to produce less distorted of reality (Kirby, Greaves & Reid, 2006).  That is, who I am and where I am situated do make a difference to the knowledge I produce (Kirby et al.). Also, I learned that I as a researcher should recognize that I have multiple positionalities based on sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, class, and age; I am a Christian, middle class, young and heterosexual woman. According to Sultana (2007), “recognizing and working with multiple positionalities of researchers and research participants that are constantly negotiated is needed in creating ethical relations, which should be encouraged and embraced in undertaking challenging but rewarding field research” (p. 383).

 Therefore, I need to openly and honestly recognize my locations and experiences and be aware of the influences that may shape what I hear and how I interpret.  I have to engage in continuous critical reflection or “reflexivity” in research, which involves “reflection on self, process, and representation, and critically examining power relations and politics in the research process and researcher accountability in data collection and interpretation” (Sultana, 2007, p. 376). In other words, I as a researcher have to reflect on how I am placed in power relations and how that influences methods, interpretations, and knowledge production. That is, reflexivity “can strengthen our commitment to conduct good research based on building relations of mutual respect and recognition” (Peake and Trotz, as cited in Sultana, 2007, p. 376). In addition, I learned that it is important that reflexivity occurs from the beginning to the end of the research process, not just adding it on at the beginning of the research.

In addition to checking my locations and engaging in reflexivity in research, I learned that I have to honestly and authentically represent the voices and the lived experiences of my research participants if I want to engage in collaborative research. I learned that I have to hear what others are saying; even it contravene my prior expectations or threatens my interests (Kiby, Greaves & Reid, 2006). Especially, when I choose to engage in social struggles with those who have been exploited and subjugated, I have to engage in what Fine (1994) calls “working the hyphen”, to tell more about myself and far more about “Othering”. Fundamentally, working the hyphen means creating occasions for me and my research participants to “discuss what is, and is not, ‘happening between’, within the negotiated relations of those story is being told, why, to whom, with what interpretation, and whose story is being shadowed, why, for whom, and with what consequence” (Fine, 1994, p. 135). 

References: 

Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In N.

Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds). The landscape of qualitative research: Theories and issues (pp.130-155). London: Sage Publications.

Kirby, S., Greaves, L. & Reid, C. (2006). Experience research social change: Methods beyond

the mainstream. Second Edition. Canada:Broadview Press.

Sargeant, J., Mann, K., Vleuten, C. & Metsemakers, J. (2008, Jan.). “Directed” self-assessment:

practice and feedback within a social context. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Profession, 28(1), 47-54.

Sultana, F. (2007). Reflexivity, positionality and participatory ethics: Negotiating fieldwork

dilemmas in international research. Journal compilation © ACME Editorial Collective, 374-385.