Basics of Doing Feminist Research
The fundamentals of conducting feminist research are the focus of this post. It explains the various considerations that must be made, the procedures to follow, the several tactics that may be used, and the difficulties that may arise when conducting feminist research.
Content
- Introduction
- Doing a Feminist Research: an overview
- Research process: strategies and steps for effective implementation of feminist principles and perspective in research study
- Interviewing within feminist research methodology: establishing research relationship
- Issues and distinguishing components of Feminist Research Study
- Problems and Challenges in doing a feminist research
- Conclusion
Introduction
Before a researcher can bring in a communion of the two to develop feminist knowledge with empancipatory application for women's lives, they must first acquire the information and abilities necessary to apply the principles of a feminist inquiry. So, the focus of this subject is on the fundamentals of conducting a feminist research. It explains the various considerations that must be made, the procedures to follow, the several tactics that may be used, and the difficulties that may arise when conducting a feminist research.
Learning Outcomes
The blog aims to engage the readers in:
- Understanding the basics of doing feminist research.
- Developing a critical understanding of various issues and concepts that distinguish feminist research process.
- Developing an understanding of how to engage with the challenges of doing feminist research.
Doing a Feminist Research: an overview
Social science study that adheres to specific feminism-related concepts is referred to as feminist research. Gender lens, visibility of women's experiences, participatory research methodologies, reflexivity, and transformative action are only a few of these principles. These principles serve as the foundation for all actions made during the course of conducting a feminist study, and they have the power to transform any study into a feminist one by forcing the researcher to stray from the positivist ideal of a value-free researcher doing a positivist study. The feminist approach to research is founded on the need to dismantle information that has ignored women's unique experiences and presumed that male experiences are universal, as well as to bring women's various perspectives from the fringes of social research to the centre. This viewpoint searches for information that has been overlooked in social science studies, and as a result, feminist academics focus on issues relating to numerous facets of women's lives. These could include commonplace problems like prejudice at job, identification, assault, and so forth. Feminist orientation thus offers a distinct approach to doing a research study, starting with centralising the relevance of gender in interpersonal and societal interactions.
Research process: strategies and steps for effective implementation of feminist principles and perspective in research study
Practical application of feminist methodology and philosophy is quite challenging. It takes a lot of actions, choices, and decisions to conduct research. Throughout the study process, decisions are influenced and guided by feminist ideals and concerns. They also aid in addressing the extrinsic factors that influence research. Jayaratne and Stewart have proposed certain overly-simplistic processes and techniques that might be a component of the feminist research process, drawing on the ideals of qualitative methodology and feminist principles. These tactics and procedures are adopted and modified in the current part. The following is a list of potential actions and approaches that could be used when doing a feminist research:
Selecting research subject
The problem under investigation should have the ability to improve gender-based social connections and benefit women. The researcher must be aware of the type of information needed to make such a modification while choosing the research subject. The purpose of the research should be political, despite the fact that the research problem may originate from personal experiences or general interest in a certain topic. The research topic should frequently be able to both capture women's everyday concerns and influence the wider institutions that result in such experiences.
Formulating research questions
The researcher must make it clear in writing objectives what information is needed to have a beneficial impact on women's lives. The intended audience for the outcomes should find the information sought to be persuasive. To ensure that the questions elicit meaningful responses, they must be precise, concise, and well-written.
Selecting research methods
The researcher must select the most appropriate methods to pursue the research's goals once the subject and research questions have been established. The majority of feminism advocates using qualitative approaches, however quantitative measures of women's experiences can and should be used to augment qualitative responses. If the research objective calls for a descriptive comprehension of a specific phenomena, the methods used must be qualitative in order to record the wide range of complex reactions and experiences. On the other hand, quantitative methods are the most effective for gathering data when the aim of the study is to examine the link between certain indicators and the effects of such associations on women. Large studies with a focus on policy recommendations are often predominately quantitative. Additionally, academic research and studies aimed at gaining understanding about the lives of women frequently include narrative narratives, in-depth interviews, and oral histories.
There are no feminist methodologies; rather, any methodology from a pool of qualitative and quantitative methodologies can be rendered feminist . The context and goal of the research should direct the choice of methods and tools rather than focusing on which sort of method is appropriate for the feminist research paradigm . In-depth interviews, oral histories, participatory observation, and other techniques are frequently used. Additionally, a number of gender-aware frameworks are being developed and used to record different facets of women's life.
Being attentive to the limitations of methods chosen
Whatever approach is taken, the researcher should be aware of and handle any method's limitations. The researcher should be cautious that she avoids overgeneralizations and misrepresentations when using qualitative approaches. Quantitative approaches should be used with caution, and the researcher should be cognizant of feminist values when applying them.
Using mixed methods
Despite being largely qualitative, the study design must work toward the adoption of mixed techniques by fusing qualitative and quantitative approaches to solve the shortcomings of each. If the appropriate mix is found, the strengths of the two can balance out each other's flaws. Mixed techniques typically produce higher-quality findings and results and are more believable. Public opinion and policymakers both favour this combination more. Whatever the mix, particular care should be taken to ensure that the participants are not subjected to oppressive techniques.
Use of creative and flexible methods and approaches
The research process is typically drawn out and involves serious debates. The researcher must employ participation procedures that are original, unique, and creative to make it exciting and pertinent. Only then will the process be pleasurable for both the researcher and those being researched, as well as pertinent to the research's main goal. These methods utilise the abilities and knowledge of local people to provide the greatest results.
Spending more time and effort in the field
Feminist topics are delicate ones, and conducting such study demands specialised research abilities. As taking short cuts in such research can be highly detrimental for the goals of the particular study as well as the goals of feminism, s/he must spend time training herself/himself to gain required and relevant skill set. Women are not able to speak up about their life in detail until the researcher has spent some time in the field and has spoken with participants numerous times. The researcher should be patient while on the field and conduct in-depth, repeated interviews to learn about the participants' life. They should also make an effort to observe the cultural, social, and political practises that are influencing gender relations in the community as a whole.
Interpretations for change in women’s lives
After receiving the data, the researcher must interpret it in a way that is compatible with the conclusions and can have effects on improving the lives of women. The idea of interpretation should be to make recommendations and put into practise successful actions based on the study's findings. The structural weaknesses that the participants are situated inside should be acknowledged and critiqued in the interpretive language. In social science research, participants are frequently held responsible for their challenging circumstances, and such interpretations cannot better the lives of women. In many instances, the interpretation can be centred on a political analysis of the results. The greatest number of individuals are impacted by policy change, hence efforts should be made to investigate the proposals for policy change that result from the findings. Most importantly, the knowledge generated should be simple for the women to use.
Dissemination of results
Once the report is written, the research investigations frequently lose their objectivity. In light of the objectives of feminist research, the researcher should actively take part in reporting the results to the widest possible audience. To have any impact on the lives of women, active and aggressive engagement in the dissemination of the results is required. All sectors of the population, including participants, the general public, policymakers, and any other group with a stake in the research, must be "sold and advertised" to. The specific context, subject, and location need the researcher, when taking any actions or implementing any tactics in the field, to exercise originality and flexibility. The steps adopted should challenge prevailing intellectual frameworks and traditions and establish a feminist critical viewpoint throughout the research. Additionally, it is crucial that the researcher consider how she is growing as a person and how the research is progressing at each stage.
Interviewing within feminist research methodology: establishing research relationship
The focus on the importance of developing a relationship between the researcher and the researched sets feminist research apart from traditional social science research. It is suggested that having a researcher who is disinterested in their subjects is neither ethical nor feasible. Smith (1974) argues that objectivity and separation are only possible if the knower is some abstract entity and the researched is posited as the 'other' who does not reflect back on the research and the researcher. Smith emphasises the need to erase objectivity and its dangers and to establish a relationship between the knower and the researched. When women do study on other women, the relationship between the researcher and the topic of the investigation is more obvious and unambiguous. Women's varied reflections on women's subjects are revealed via research in which they are both subjects and objects. Such reflection results in a mutually illuminating knowledge of the self and knowledge of the "other," since both share the same situation of being a woman (Westkott, 1979). In feminist research, the researcher and people being studied frequently engage in discourse during which they both relate their experiences, consider them, and share their conclusions .
Women respondents are frequently more trusting of feminist researchers because they can more easily relate to them. They open up to the researchers and give personal details and events from their lives. This is made possible when the feminist researcher intentionally works to lessen the power disparity between the participant and herself by utilising egalitarian and trust-building research procedures and approaches. Acker et al. (1991) make an argument for the effectiveness of feminism in bridging social gaps between researchers and those being studied and in conducting nonoppressive interviews. These interviews frequently consist of private discussions about problems that both parties can relate to or have experienced. However, these techniques put a larger on on the researcher to understand and treat those conversations with care.
Issues and distinguishing components of Feminist Research Study
The characteristics of feminist research that Fonow and Cook outlined in 1991 are expanded upon in this section. For the purposes of this module, the four characteristics also serve as a summary of the elements and ideas that define a feminist research. The following is a discussion of the different nuances and problems related to these:
Reflexivity
Reflexivity is a crucial aspect in conducting feminist research. Feminist methodology builds on a legacy of remembering field experiences by using reflexivity to learn more about the gender dynamics that underpin the research process. Reflexivity in research is achieved by a constant, in-depth review of the field, the participants, and the researcher's responses to the field. The special feminist approach places a strong emphasis on absorbing the subjectivity of the researcher, and the process of reflexivity permits an adequate expression of the researcher's subjectivity. Throughout the study process, the researcher intentionally incorporates and builds her or his role, beliefs, thoughts, experiences, and consciousness. As a result, the subjectivity of researchers is continuously constructed and articulated. Reflexivity is used to improve the calibre of responses. Research methodologies and approaches can be continuously improved by constant reflection. Additionally, the tools are regularly improved to better reflect what the researcher and the participants value.
Action orientation
Feminist methodology research is special in that it places a strong emphasis on transformational action. From the research problem to the theoretical framework, methodologies, and even how the researcher positions herself in the study setting, this action orientation is woven throughout the entire research process. A study into transformational action, which is typically political and may concentrate on policy change or activism, is guided by feminist research methods. Feminist activity frequently serves as the foundation for feminism study. Research questions are framed to address women's concerns as a result of the political organisation of women's movements. Feminist research methodology is also grounded in the local struggles of women. It uses techniques and methods that shorten the gap between the researcher and the researched and permit recording of routine activities and practises, ultimately assisting in the creation of knowledge from below that aims to inspire transformative action. Additionally, feminist methodology emphasises any activism, regardless of how modest it may be. Feminist research, for instance, recognises women as activists despite the limited scope of their activism by highlighting the gender inequity they encounter and fight against in their everyday social conduct.
The focus on examining policy implementation and recommending policy change is another example of how feminist research has an action orientation. In order to identify policy gaps and propose solutions to make public policies for social and political transformation more gender responsive and sensitive, numerous research and policy centres have been formed. By doing study on topics like domestic violence, voting rights, employment, and other policy-related issues, feminist researchers have taken an active role in shaping public policy. The feminist critique of sex-based biases in official statistics, which frequently undercount or disregard women's unique difficulties, serves as the foundation for the application of feminist methodology in policy making. Feminist research provides empirical support for the need for a gender perspective when developing public policies.
The significance of emotions
In traditional research, emotions are frequently left out of the process of doing the investigation. Recognizing how emotions affect people's experiences is one of the most distinctive features of feminist study. The investigation is empowered to focus on the part that emotions play in influencing how knowledge is produced through feminist approach. Feminist epistemology views emotions as a source of knowledge about the social environments that we are all a part of. Information of higher quality can be obtained by paying attention to the caring and emotional closeness between the researcher and the subject of the study. Women's emotional lives are just as important to how they perceive the world as their political or economic lives. Their lived experiences serve as the foundation for their emotions such as rage, solidarity, trust, etc., which support their testimonies. Emotional and verbal accounts provide more full information, which improves the quality of the data collected. By paying attention to the affective aspects of research, feminist scholars are attempting to provide the research's rational aspects a substantial emotional component. It aids in dismantling the duality of reason and emotion and refutes the notion that they can coexist in the same moment. The pioneer in bringing back emotions in empirical research is Jaggar (1989), who contends that feminist methodology permits adopting emotions and addressing emotional responses in the course of acquiring more understanding of their surroundings. Paying attention to emotions aids in the creation of original research methodologies and strategies.
Utilize the current situation
Many times, feminist studies are conducted in a specific environment and circumstance. Feminist researchers use their immediate surroundings, settings, and native approaches because they have fewer resources to conduct their study and because their subjects are inherently different. The immediate and local circumstances serve as the focus of investigation and direct the application of techniques. Feminist research is focused on examining how gender inequities are formed and sustained in women's daily lives with the goal of transforming gender relations. It is crucial to conduct research in the context of these people's everyday lives. As a result, feminist researchers frequently come across topics like factories, reproductive work, etc. Feminist researchers can and do start their studies as a result of any encounter in a typical environment. For instance, a student might begin investigating women's experiences in higher education, or a dalit woman would want to investigate dalit people's experiences in the public sector. Thus, through feminist study, everyday personal experiences are brought into the political and public sphere. Additionally, when someone tries to comprehend how a scenario works, it presents an opportunity for investigation. For instance, analysis of a movement or occurrence is done through research. Thus, one of the methods best suited to do feminist research is to use any given circumstance. Working in an immediate environment requires spontaneity, improvisation, and innovation.
Problems and Challenges in doing a feminist research
Feminist concepts must be used in a way that demands for awareness raising in addition to academic and physical work. Applying this in real-world situations is a task that has many obstacles to overcome and could lead to issues if not done carefully. Using feminist research technique also raises a number of moral and practical concerns. Following are some of these:
- Working with women's private lives in their local social and familial environments is a common component of feminist study. The personally important connections that women have face the risk of being ruined by the action-oriented feminist study. Women frequently benefit from these partnerships in terms of satisfaction and financial support.
- Making a research procedure that entirely eliminates the power imbalance between the researcher and the researched is quite challenging. The egalitarian research process places a strong emphasis on cooperation between the researcher and the researched in order to produce knowledge that may change gender relations. Such cooperation frequently conceals the researcher's relative advantage in power and control over the study process and her utilisation of the findings. In the end, recording and analysing those talks is up to the researcher. The research subjects may also object to being treated equally.
- Analyzing data gathered under feminist ideals is challenging. The open-ended nature of interviews generates enormous amounts of data, making it challenging to determine which portions are more crucial and which should be used to establish a context for the analysis of that data. Speaking on behalf of "others" is another issue. When analysing and summarising the data, the difficulty of reducing the power disparity between the researcher and the researched is exacerbated. In order to better understand one's own life, it is necessary to objectify one's own lived experiences when writing. The subjectivity of women's lives is contested by such objectivity. It's difficult to explain their lifestyles while maintaining their realism and complete subjectivity. By letting facts speak and by presenting oral histories and tales in their own words, the difficulty can be handled (though not necessarily totally and appropriately). The greater emancipatory objectives of feminist research are limited and are also hampered by just writing about their experiences in their own words. The experiences must be examined within a specific theoretical framework that may connect women's experiences of oppression with the larger social structures that support oppressive patriarchal and capitalist regimes.
- Validity is the main problem that feminist researchers must overcome. The usual standards for evaluating the reliability of research are criticised by feminist research. In feminism, determining the extent to which the knowledge produced is valuable in terms of its emancipatory goals is one method of study validation. Determine how accurately the results depict women's lives and how fairly different facets of their social life are reflected upon is another problem in determining the validity of study. Additionally, it might be difficult to maintain the voice of the researched even when it is included into a larger theoretical framework. The best way to maintain the research's validity is to periodically report to the participants, review the records, and confirm the information that was gathered.
Conclusion
There is no one way to conduct feminist research, and there are no standard feminist tools or methodologies. Feminist research, on the other hand, can be conducted to close the gaps left by traditional research by adhering to its ideals and tenets. Feminist studies aim to legitimise women's experiences by using egalitarian and collaborative research tactics and procedures. Feminist researchers encounter a variety of obstacles in their efforts to bring about social change and transformation, and new methodologies and discourses are steadily emerging within the feminist research paradigm to recognise and address those constraints.
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