Chapter 7 Critical Approaches to Research: Action and Feminist Research

1. Chapter 7Critical Approaches to Research: Action and Feminist Research Winston Jackson and Norine Verberg Methods: Doing Social Research, 4e

2. Critical Research • Social change orientation of critical schools • See inequality as rooted in exploitative social relations • Advocate greater equality • Advocate sociopolitical and structural change • Examples of critical schools • Marxism • Feminism • Action research © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

3. Core “Methodologic Themes” Common to All Critical Approaches • Research topic concerns disadvantaged, oppressed, marginalized group • Research process/results have the potential to benefit the marginalized group • Researcher’s assumptions are made explicit and examined • Prior scholarship is critiqued to expose bias • Researchers and participants interact as collaborators (Berman, Ford-Gilboe & Campbell) © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

4. The Premise of Critical Research – Knowledge Is a Political Process We live in a world in which knowledge is used to maintain oppressive relations. Information is interpreted and organized in such a way that the views of a small group of people are presented as objective knowledge, as “The Truth.” We believe that Maria Meis was right when she said that “Research, which so far has been largely the instrument of dominance and legitimation of power elites, must be brought to serve the interests of dominated, exploited, and oppressed groups.” (Kirby and McKenna) © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

5. Research by, for, and with Participants • Advocate “research from the margins” • “Research from the margins is not research on people from the margins, but research by, for, and with them.” • Identifies social change as a specific goal or outcome of research (Kirby and McKenna) © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

6. Which Research Method or Research Design Should Be Used? • Considerable debate and disagreement • Many critical researchers reject positivist assumptions (i.e., objective and value free) • Hence, some reject quantitative methods • Others agree with the critique of positivism but believe quantitative research designs are useful for exposing social inequality • Critical researchers employ quantitative or qualitative methods, or both © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

7. Which Research Method or Research Design? (cont’d) • Many emphasize “methodological triangulation” – i.e., use several methods • “Stories and numbers” – qualitative + quantitative • E.g., Browne used a quasi-experimental design to measure impact of interventions on parents and children living on social assistance and a cost analysis of providing the assistance • In addition to showing that the interventions had a positive impact, showed them to be cost effective • Argue that “numbers” can impact policy reform © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

8. Institutional Ethnography • A relatively new critical method • Developed by Dorothy Smith • Explores how everyday life is organized • Focuses on the way structural conditions influence consciousness • e.g., examine how texts shape and reproduce social relations (texts refer to the organizational features of institutions: school policy, workplace regulations, government policy, etc.) • Adopted by many feminists © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

9. Action Research • Action research proceeds in cyclical stages that involve planning, implementing, reflecting, and evaluating, and it involves collaboration between researchers and participants throughout the entire process • Action research: • Is educative • Deals with individuals as members of social groups • Is problem-focused, context-specific, and future-oriented • Involves a change intervention (cont’d) © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

10. Action Research (cont’d) • Action research: • Aims at improvement and involvement • Involves a cyclic process in which research, action, and evaluation are interlinked • Is founded on a research relationship in which those involved are participants in the change process • Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a subset of action research. • Has three elements: research, adult education, and sociopolitical action © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

11. Steps in Action Research • Entry into the community • Assessment of the situation • Planning for research and action • Implementation of plan and reflection • Evaluation of the implementation • Report and reassessment • Planning future action © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

12. Challenges in Conducting Action Research • Involving community members as members of the research team • Understanding and respecting diversity of values, perspectives, and abilities among community members and researchers • Ensuring that all members of the research team are sensitive and responsive to the needs of different forms and types of leadership at different stages of the research process • Action research takes a great deal of time © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

13. Strengths of Action Research • Offers opportunities for researchers to plan, implement, and evaluate change simultaneously • Empowers participants • Researchers gain practical knowledge; participants gain research skills, political knowledge, and a sense of empowerment © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

14. Example: Kim Travers • Conducted participatory action research • Goal: to initiate nutrition education as well as to explain the social organization that permitted nutritional inequalities among socially disadvantaged women and their families • Involved women attending a Parent Centre • Explored women’s experiences shopping for food • Women initiated actions to address nutritional inequalities © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

15. Feminist Research Feminists share many views but differ on key issues: hence, may say there are feminisms Shared assumptions and orientations: • Value women and their experiences, ideas, and needs • See phenomena from the perspective of women • Recognize the existence of conditions that oppress women • Desire to change conditions through research leading to political action © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

16. Feminist Research • Uses a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods, but more emphasis on qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, oral histories, comparative and field studies • Emphasis on subjectivity and the personal experiences of the participants • Data are analyzed within the context of women’s lives in such a way that women are empowered rather than portrayed in ways that stereotype them © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

17. Feminist Values • Women’s subjective experiences • The context in women’s lives • Relationship between researcher and participant • Inclusion of diverse women © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

18. Feminist Research Questions • Issues that are of primary concern to women • Encourage women to report their experiences in their own voices • Allow for a structural analysis of the conditions of women’s lives with a goal of improving the conditions • E.g., accessing health care, women’s work, women’s health, poverty, motherhood © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

19. Role of the Researcher • Non-hierarchical, reciprocal relationship • Views self as a partner with participants • Vulnerable one, shares experiences and emotions with participants as team member • Reflexivity is expected of the researcher © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

20. Types of Data Collection • Oral history interviewing • Multiple in-depth interviews • Participant observation • Focus group interviews • Structured/semi-structured interview guides • Documents such as diaries, letters, photos • Questionnaires and indexes © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

21. Approaches to Data Analysis • Content is analyzed in terms of artifacts produced by women, about women, for women • Patriarchy and ethnocentric bias are major themes examined in the analysis • Participants are active partners in the data analysis process © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

22. Reporting Findings • Use descriptive, non-sexist language • Portray women’s voices • Provide a structural analysis of the everyday lives of women • Avoid academic jargon; make findings accessible to all women, not just academics • Include an analysis of the role of the researcher © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

23. Feminist Activism and Research in Atlantic Coastal Communities • Linda Christiansen-Ruffman conducted feminist-based participatory action research with women living in coastal communities during the closure of the cod fishery • Notes that women had been excluded from the decision-making process • Many women did not qualify for the compensation package because their work was not recognized © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

24. Feminist Activism and Research in Atlantic Coastal Communities (cont’d) • Women in coastal communities established Nova Scotia Women’s FishNet • Women saw the need to become organized and engage in planning by, for, and with the local communities • Rejected the official response • Produced fact sheets and an action plan for women in coastal communities • Response reflected their more holistic understanding of coastal communities © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

25. Advantages and Limitations • Advantages • Provides opportunity to make research methods available to communities • In the case of feminism, it redresses a gender bias in past research • Limitations • Many challenges to working with community groups: time consuming, need for reflection on process, roles, values, etc. © 2007 Pearson Education Canada