HDF 607 Feminist Theory and Research Methodologies
S03
Instructor: Dr. Mary Y. Morgan - 130 Stone (256-0096), mymorgan@uncg.edu, 282-3852-h
Course Description:
The focus will be research issues associated with the new scholarship on women and pertaining to
the interdisciplinary study of women and their families. Connection and distinctions between
interpretive and critical science research methods and feminist analytic methods will be examined.
The assigned readings represent feminist perspective on scholarship as well as feminist
contributions to collaborative research. Among issues to be examined are those of passionate
scholarship, the particular dilemmas of interviewing women, ethical issues in feminist research, and
objectivity, subjectivity, and "truth". Practical experience in designing and conducting a brief
feminist research project will be offered. An interactive learning context will be fostered to
minimize competition and maximize personal process and intellectual growth.
Course Objectives:
1. To examine the feminist practices associated with evolving epistemologies, research
strategies, and calls for social change.
2. To understand how the theories and research methods we use influence the phenomena we study.
3. To understand how our subjective life experiences influence the research process.
4. To develop and practice skills in designing, conducting, and analyzing narratives in ways that
utilize feminist theory and research methods.
5. To create a feminist pedagogical environment by exploring theory, research strategies, and life
experiences in interaction with others.
Course Requirement:
1. Attendance and Participation
To promote active involvement in this seminar, participants are expected to come to class
prepared to discuss assigned readings and homework assignments. During the last few weeks
of class, students will lead discussions on selected topics and share their work.
2.
Family Story
Select a story, legacy, or ritual from your own family experience and analyze its meanings in
terms of what it reveals about yourself, your family, or your family's history. Due 5Feb.
3.
Mini-Interpretive Project
Interview a class member about some aspect of their life history. Specifically, prepare an indepth interview guide of questions to ask your respondent, conduct the interview using a tape
recorder, transcribe the tape, conduct a content analysis of the interview identifying major
themes. Discuss the written interpretation with your respondent for feedback, revise as
necessary, then write a paper on the major themes as well as your preconceptions and the
interview process itself. Since class members are the subjects for this project, you will serve
as a respondent for another student's interview. Due 2Apr.
4.
Feminist Research Project
Design a study on some aspect of women's lives using an alternative research approach. OR
Read and critique a book of your own choice related to feminist theory. OR
Plan a seminar/workshop/paper that incorporates feminist theory and/or methodology. OR
other ideas?? Due 30Apr.
5.
Class Presentation – Feminist Research Processes [See last page]
2
Required Readings:
Selected articles on electronic reserves in Jackson Library. See references for complete
citations.
Course Outline:
Date
Topics
Readings
_____________________________________________________________________
1/15
introduction
1/22 feminist frameworks
Pearsall value theory
Jaggar feminist frameworks
Bergh renaming
Flax, 1986 women do theory
Hartsock revolutionary strategy
Gross what is feminist theory
Gordon what’s new in women’s history
1/29
epistemology
Nielsen introduction
Stanley & Wise back into the personal
Hawkesworth knowers
Lather deconstructing inquiry
Harding, 1992 instabilities of FT categories
2/5
diversity of thought
Lugones & Spelman cultural imperialism
Collins Black feminist thought
King Black feminist ideology
Hurtado relating to privilege
2/12
feminist critique of science
Keller gender and science
Westkott feminist criticism of the social science
Harding, 1986 science women in feminism
Namenwirth science thru feminist prism
Hughes significant differences
Stanley & Wise obscene phone calls (example)
Pugh statistics and feminism (example)
2/19
feminist research methods
guidelines/methodology
Thompson feminist methodology
Klein feminist methodology
Weiler methodology
Cook & Fonow. knowledge... issues of epistemology
2/26
interviewing women
Anderson, et.al. beginning where we are
Oakley interviewing women
Weber nature of interviewing
Measor interviewing
Edwards interviewing Black women
Chase taking narrative seriously
3
3/5
passionate scholarship
collaborative research
Du Bois values, language, method
Acker, et.al. objectivity & truth
Hoff collaborative feminist research
Bhavnani feminist research & objectivity
Armstead feminist research & writing
Shields & Dervin collaborative research
interviews in class
alternative modes of inquiry
criteria for research
Brown guidelines of good research (resource)
Coomer & Hultgren outline of methods (handout)
Jax outline of methods (handout)
3/12
Spring Break
3/19
interpretive inquiry
Hultgren interpretive inquiry
Suransky phenomenology
van Manen phenomenological writing
Peterat, 1987 review of being a feminist
Tesch research experience
Brayboy & Morgan Indianness (example)
Morgan & Opiyo (example)
Blaisure & Allen marital equality (example)
Stinson, et.al. dance (example)
3/26
critical science
Coomer critical inquiry
Comstock critical research
Morgan & Rhoden critical science
Odero & Morgan (example)
Roberts, et.al. faking (example to use)
4/2
research as praxis
Lather feminist perspective on methodologies
Lather research as praxis
Reinharz action research
Mies methodology
Small action research
4/9
issues
race and class bias
Cannon, et.al. race & class bias
Morgan research w/ Black students
Dyck, et.al. women talking
4/16
ethics & intuition
LaRossa ethical dilemmas
Shostak !Kung woman
4/23
feminism and family studies
Thompson & Walker feminism & family studies
Ferree feminism & family research
4
4/16
4/23
4/30
feminist research processes
Select one of the research processes below, gather appropriate readings, and lead
class discussion. Include a description of the methodology, its purpose and uses, an example
of research using it, and a list of references. (I have a selection of articles for each topic
that you may add to.)
auto/biography
narratives
oral history
analyzing visual texts
drama/content analysis
historical documentary
women's cross-cultural
ethnography
quantitative
multiple methods
Final: Friday, May 9, 3:30-6:30pm
 Take-home exam due (>5 pages)
 Individual presentations of projects (>10 minutes)
5
Feminist Theory and Research Methods References
S03
Acker, J., Barry, K. and Esseveld, Johanna. (1983). Objectivity and truth: Problems in doing feminist
research. Women's Studies International Forum, 6(4), 423-235.
Anderson, K., Armitage, S., Jack, D., & Witter, J. (1990). Beginning where we are: Feminist methodology
in oral history. In J. Nielsen (Ed.), Feminist research methods (94-112). Boulder, CO: Westview
Press.
Armstead, C. (1995). Writing contradictions: Feminist research and feminist writing. Women’s Studies
International Forum, 18(5/6), 627-636.
Bhavnani, K. (1993). Tracing the contours: Feminist research and feminist objectivity. Women’s Studies
International Forum, 16(2), 95-104.
Blaisure, K. & Allen, K. (1995). Feminists and the ideology and practice of marital equality. Journal of
Marriage and the Family, 57 (5-19).
Brayboy, M.E. & Morgan, M.Y. (1998). Voices of Indianness: The lived world of Native American women.
Women's Studies International Forum, 21(4), 341-354.
Bergh, N.V.D. (1987). Renaming: Vehicle for empowerment. In J. Penfield (Ed.), Women and language in
transition (pp. 130-136). Albany: SUNY Press.
Brown, M. (1989). What are the qualities of good research? In F. Hultgren & D. Coomer (Eds.),
Alternative modes of inquiry in home economics research (pp. 257-297). Peoria, IL: Glencoe
Publishing Company.
Cannon, L.W., Higginbotham, E., & Leung, M. (1988). Race and class bias in qualitative research on
women. Gender and Society, 2(4), 449-462.
Chase, S.E. (1995). Taking narrative seriously: Consequences for method and theory in interview studies.
In R. Josselson, R. & A. Lieblich (Eds.), Interpreting experience: The narrative study of lives (pp. 126). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Collins, P.H. (1991). The social construction of Black feminist thought. Signs: Journal of Women and
Culture, 14(4), 745-773.
Comstock, D.E. (1982). A method for critical research. In E. Buedo & W. Feinberg (Eds.), Knowledge and
values in social and educational research (pp. 370-390). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Cook, J.A. & Fonow, M.M. (1990). Knowledge and women’s interests: Issues of epistemology and
methodology in feminist sociological research. In J. Nielsen (Ed.), Feminist research methods (6993). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Coomer, D.L. (1989). Introduction to critical inquiry. In F. Hultgren & D. Coomer (Eds.), Alternative modes
of inquiry in home economics research (pp. 167-184). Peoria, IL: Glencoe Publishing Company.
Cotterill, P. (1992). Interviewing women: Issues of friendship, vulnerability, and power. Women’s Studies
International Forum, 15(5/6), 593-606.
Du Bois, B. (l983). Passionate scholarship: Notes on values, knowing and method in feminist social
science. In G. Bowles & R.D. Klein (Eds.), Theories of women's studies (pp. 105-116). London:
Routledge.
Dyck, I., Lynam, J. & Anderson, J. (1995). Women talking: Creating knowledge through difference in
cross-cultural research. Women’s Studies International Forum, 18(5/6), 611-626.
Edwards, R. (1990). Connecting method and epistemology: A white woman interviewing Black women.
Women's Studies International Forum, 13(5), 477-490.
6
Flax, J. (1986). Women do theory. In M. Pearsall (Ed.), Women and values: Readings in recent feminist
philosophy, pp. 2-7. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.
Ferree, M.M. (1990). Beyond separate spheres: Feminism and family research. Journal of Marriage and
the Family, 52, 866-884.
Gross, E. (1992). What is feminist theory? In H. Crowley & S. Himmelweit (Eds.), Knowing women:
Feminism and knowledge, (pp. 355-369). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity Press.
Harding, S.G. (1992). The instability of the analytical categories of feminist theory. In H. Crowley & S.
Himmelweit (Eds.) Knowing women: Feminism and knowledge (pp. 338-354). Cambridge, United
Kingdom: Polity Press. [originally published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 11(4),
Summer 1986]
Harding, S.G. (1986). From the woman question in science to the science question in feminism. The
science questions in feminism (pp. 15-29). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Hartsock, N. (1986). Feminist theory and the development of revolutionary strategy. In M. Pearsall (Ed.),
Women and values: Readings in recent feminist philosophy (pp. 8-18). Belmont: Wadsworth
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Hawkesworth, M.E. (l989). Knowers, knowing, known: Feminist theory and claims of truth. Signs, 14(3),
533-557.
Hoff, L.A. (1988). Collaborative feminist research and the myth of objectivity. In K. Yllo & M. Bograd
(Eds.), Feminist perspectives on wife abuse (pp. 269-281). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Hughes, D. (1995). Significant differences: The construction of knowledge, objectivity, and dominance.
Women’s Studies International Forum, 18(4), 395-406.
Hultgren, F.H. (1989). Introduction to interpretive inquiry. In F. Hultgren & D. Coomer (Eds.), Alternative
modes of inquiry in home economics research (pp. 37-59). Peoria, IL: Glencoe Publishing Company.
Hurtado, A. (l988). Relating to privilege: Seduction and rejection in the subordination of white women and
women of color. Signs: Journal of Women and Culture, 14, 833-855.
Jagger, A. & Struhl, P. (1986). Alternative feminist frameworks: The roots of oppression, Feminist
frameworks (pp. 79-85). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Keller, E.F. (1990). Gender and science. In J. Nielsen (Ed.), Feminist research methods (41-57). Boulder,
CO: Westview Press.
King, D.K. (1989). Multiple jeopardy, multiple consciousness: The context of a Black feminist ideology. In
M. Malson, J. O'Barr, S. Westphal-Wihl, & M. Wyer (Eds.), Feminist theory in practice and process
(pp. 75-105). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Klein, R.D. (1983). How to do what we want to do: Thoughts about feminist methodology. In G. Bowles &
R. Klein (Eds.), Towards a methodology for feminist research (pp.88-104). London: Routledge &
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LaRossa, R., Bennet, L.A. & Gelles, R.J. (l981). Ethical dilemmas in qualitative family research. Journal of
Marriage and the Family, 43, 303-313.
Lather, P. (1988). Feminist perspectives on empowering research methodologies. Women's Studies
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Lather, P. (1991). Deconstructing/deconstructive inquiry: The politics of knowing and being known.
Getting smart: Feminist research and pedagogy within the postmodern (pp. 86-101). New York:
Routledge.
7
Lather, P. (1986). Research as praxis. Harvard Educational Review, 56(3), 257-277.
Lugones, M.C. & Spelman, E.V. (l986). Have we got a theory for you! Feminist theory, cultural
imperialism and the demand for "the woman's voice". In M. Pearsall (Ed.), Women and values:
Readings in recent feminist philosophy (pp. 19-31). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Measor, L. (1985). Interviewing: A strategy in qualitative research. In R. Burgess (Ed.), Strategies of
educational research: Qualitative methods (pp. 55-77). Philadelphia: The Falmer Press.
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of women's studies (pp. 117-139). London: Routledge.
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women. In K. Conway-Turner, Cherrin, Schiffman, & Turkel (Eds.), Women's studies in transition:
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Morgan, M.Y. & Opiyo, F.A. (2000). Rural Kenyan Luo women’s daily lives: Reflections of
interdependence and multiplicity. Submitted to Women’s Studies Quarterly.
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Women’s Studies International Forum.
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