Political elites and the pragmatic paradigm: Notes from a feminist researcher - in the field and out to lunch

This essay seeks to offer some reflections on doing research with political elites where those elites also happen to be women. It tries to show some of the excitements and frustrations of doing research with elite subjects in elite settings, when the researcher is always the stranger and the person with the least power in an otherwise very powerful and intimidating environment. It addresses some of the tensions in 'doing' feminist research with women with whom the researcher does not empathize and discusses the extent to which those differences actually matter when ranged against the much bigger considerations of gender and patriarchal relations.     

Inside out: some notes on carrying out feminist research in cross-cultural interviews with South Asian women immigration applicants

This article considers a number of important issues raised in the growing literature with regard to the place of ethnicity in feminist research methodology and the woman-to-woman interview. Drawing on examples from the author's experiences of conducting interviews with South Asian women immigration applicants, the article firstly illustrates that because of a different ethnicity, a white feminist researcher is likely to be regarded as an outsider by the minority-ethnic interviewees, regardless of the sharing of gender. Secondly, using the ideas of 'personal' and 'structural' power the article discusses how the researcher's outsider status complicates the power relations between the interviewer and the participants.     

Researching an-'other' minority ethnic community: Reflections of a black female researcher on the intersections of race,gender and other power positions on the research process

There is a dearth of discussion on the methodological dilemmas faced by minority ethnic researchers who research minority ethnic communities of which they are not a part. The paper explores the political and ethical issues involved in a black woman researching South Asian women's lives, analysing the research process, and focusing on issues of choice of research group, access and placing. This paper represents a reflexive account of the research relationships developed in longitudinal qualitative doctoral research between a black (of African descent) postgraduate student and sample of 19 South Asian female student teachers in England and draws on literature of women interviewing women and ethnic or 'race' matched research. The methods employed were documentary analysis, observing meetings, a focus group, two student questionnaires, one-to-one interviews with staff and group and one-to-one interviews with South Asian female student teachers. It is argued that whilst social characteristics such as gender, language, religion and culture are important in determining notions of commonality and difference, a shared experience of racism between the researched and the researcher may affect the research relationship most significantly.     

‘Building Bridges’

Abstract

‘Building bridges’ is a metaphor we have used to describe a collaborative research process involving social work academic and senior practitioners from government and non-government child protection and family service organizations in Victoria, Australia. The purpose of the research was to develop a ‘practice-generated approach to policy implementation’ in child protection practice. The research sought to explore the appropriateness of social constructionist approaches for child protection practice that might enhance the existing risk paradigm. This article aims to critically evaluate the process of ‘building bridges’ and its outcomes, by focusing on how potential and actual differences between organizational contexts, namely universities and various service-providing organizations, may influence relationships between theory and practice. We critically reflect on our research process comparing it with idealized forms of collaborative research discussed in the literature.     

People with experience of long-term drug use and homelessness teaching with us: experts by experience participation in university social work education

ABSTRACT

Participation of experts by experience in university social work education is an important shaping factor for future social workers. This article presents two-year long experience in lecturing together with people who have had experience with long-term drug use, homelessness and have a lot of experience with being in a role of social work clients as well. The aim of the presented approach is to recognize their experience, opinions, and attitudes as an important source of knowledge in social work. Based on the research outcomes, the authors discuss topics such as: the role of experts, empowerment, breaking the stereotypes and ethical issues related to experts’ participation. They conclude with practical recommendations.     

Collaborative Teams for Youth Engagement

SUMMARY

Youth engagement on collaborative teams is a viable approach to healthier youth development and community development. This article examines four characteristics of engagement in the research literature and a specific school-community-university project: adult support, a youth-friendly environment, the completion of meaningful tasks, and the learning and utilization of new skills.     

The Life Course: A Sociological Introduction

Abstract

Recognition of the deleterious effects of domestic violence on women's mental health has highlighted the potential benefits for women of collaboration between mental health and domestic violence services. Yet the different histories, knowledge bases, and organisational cultures of the mental health and domestic violence sectors present formidable challenges to the development of effective collaborative work. This article draws on a large research enquiry, involving four separate but related studies, which explored aspects of collaboration between these two service sectors. It focuses particularly on data collected in interviews with practitioners from mental health and domestic violence services who were participants in an action research study (one of the four studies), which was aimed at discovering the factors that contributed to enhanced collaboration and the benefits of this for women who experience both domestic violence and mental health issues.     

Going the distance: 'Closeness' in qualitative data analysis software

This study about researchers' transitions to using qualitative data analysis (QDA) software identified three stages of 'closeness to the data': the tactile-digital divide; the coding trap; and the metacognitive shift. The 'tactile-digital divide' involves adapting to working on screen instead of paper, an initially distancing process. As users gain comfort with the software, they experience 'the coding trap'--an issue of too much closeness to the data. Users warned that there was a tendency to become 'bogged down' in coding, and developed strategies to provide analytical distance. 'The metacognitive shift' involves learning to think about software processes with the same level of reflectivity that should accompany qualitative research processes in general, including developing strategies for error recognition. These transitions invite reflections on the nature of 'cognitive tools' and expertise with them, which lead to implications for evaluating research and considering trustworthiness.     

Transcending Boundaries

SUMMARY

This paper presents a participatory research and planned change effort to develop a coordinated community response system to domestic violence in a United States culturally diverse community with a large immigrant population. This work grew out of an international, interdisciplinary project that was designed to establish ongoing collaborative relationships between university and community practitioners in the United States, Honduras, and Costa Rica around the theme of intra-familial violence, particularly gender-based violence against women. The paper analytically describes the international collaborative project, the local community-based participatory research and community development project, and lessons learned from both the local and international interdisciplinary collaboration. Examination of differences across disciplinary and cultural contexts generated critical reflection on the need to consider reframing domestic violence in the context of fundamental human rights, as is the case in Central America. At the same time, challenges around developing a coordinated community response, addressing inadequacies in the legal system, and implementing education and training were echoed across boundaries, demonstrating the need for continued international collaboration.     

Staff Development as a School Climate Intervention to Support Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students: An Integrated Research Partnership Model for School Counselors and Counselor Educators

ABSTRACT

This article posits that an integrative research partnership model can assist school counselors in addressing the marginalization of transgender students in schools through staff development. A methodological integration of action research and program evaluation through quantitative and qualitative data collection is explained, and a collaborative process is highlighted. A case example is provided to demonstrate the use of the design.     

Unsettling research versus activism: how might critical disability studies disrupt traditional research boundaries?

Abstract

This article responds to the call for producing activist-oriented scholarship by engaging with theoretical and methodological approaches that explore the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in Vietnam. We consider possibilities for connecting different forms of knowledge and activism by reflecting on research practices designed to foster social change. Specifically, we ask: how can critical disability studies be more reflexive about knowledge which privileges particular ways of knowing from the Global North? What alternative possibilities can exist to foster more inclusive and transformative knowledge that tackles systemic forms of oppressions in colonial and postcolonial contexts? Reflecting on an ongoing collaborative project in Vietnam, we argue that critical disability studies which engages with different forms of activism through critical reflections on our privileges can tackle exclusion by opening a new platform for debating social justice transnationally.     

Making feminism count: integrating feminist research principles in large-scale quantitative research on violence against women and girls

ABSTRACT

Applying a feminist approach to research on ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) is critical because gender inequality is an underlying driver of VAWG, and feminist research aims to empower women and girls, as well as challenge prevailing inequalities through the research process itself. However, feminist research approaches have not historically been applied in the international development sector, although statistical evidence on what works to end VAWG is in high demand from governments and donors. In this article, we explore how researchers could practically reconcile an explicitly feminist undertaking, like ending VAWG, when accepted research practices within this field employ methods that are historically not informed by feminist praxis. We argue that quantitative research and feminist research approaches are not mutually exclusive, rather, they can (and do) overlap. Drawing on five decades of combined experience conducting quantitative studies on VAWG in low- and middle-income countries around the world, we highlight the challenges and opportunities for incorporating feminist research principles throughout the research process – from design, community engagement, data collection, analysis, dissemination, and policy influence. We draw on practical examples from research conducted in countries as diverse as Timor-Leste, Kiribati, and Sri Lanka, among others, illustrating that it is not only possible to apply feminist research principles to large-scale, quantitative survey research on VAWG, but that this should become a priority for good development practice.     

Choices,Challenges, and Tensions

ABSTRACT

No research has examined the challenges faced by lesbian women seeking to adopt from the perspective of lesbian couples themselves. The current qualitative study utilized data from 70 women (from 35 same-sex couples) who were in the process of adopting to explore how lesbian women experience and navigate the challenges they encounter during this critical life transition. Ecological, minority stress, and feminist perspectives informed our analysis. Results indicated that many women experienced tensions between their desire to be “out” in the adoption process and the legal and social realities of adoption. Based on their reports, women in this sample faced numerous barriers to adopting but engaged in multiple forms of resistance to legal and social inequities. Women also identified supportive practices by agencies that facilitated the adoption process. Findings suggest the importance of considering lesbian women's experiences as a starting point in understanding how heteronormative social practices shape the experiences of same-sex couples striving to adopt.     

Complexity and the social world

While advocating the adoption of qualitative approaches to evaluation, it is important to reflect on the practice. This paper draws on the work of a diversionary project to involve young people at risk in leisure and sporting activities using one to one mentors. The approach adopted was one that was designed to address potentially sensitive issues and place the experience of the key players central to the enquiry. Hence, the intention was that the young people and their mentors should be treated as knowers and actors rather than the objects of the research. The approach discussed here stops short of treating them as 'partners' in the research as discussed previously in this journal, arguing instead for an approach in which skilled researchers actively engage all parties. Such an approach can offer insights inaccessible to more conventional evaluation techniques.     

Labour pains: Some considerations on the difficulties of researching juvenile prostitution

This paper reflects on an empirical, retrospective study of juvenile prostitution. It aims to explore the ways in which the practical constraints, practical difficulties and ethical considerations that are inevitably encountered in a 'sensitive' area of research, such as young people who are exploited through prostitution, are intrinsically linked to choice of methods and the process of the research. It argues that in such research pragmatism in choice of methods is necessary to achieve the epistemological aims, of allowing the voices of disadvantaged young people who are exploited through their involvement in prostitution to be heard, while maintaining ethical integrity. In addition the paper reflects on the emotional impact of research such as this on researchers and suggests ways in which research design and the collaborative efforts of research teams may minimise potentially negative impacts on researchers. The author suggests that by anticipating problems posed by research into young people who are sexually exploited through prostitution, ethical and practical difficulties might be negotiated to enable research in this field to be taken forward in the future.     

Alternative approaches to researching social capital: A comment on van Deth's measuring social capital

This paper responds to van Deth's overview of empirical research on social capital and the difficulties of measuring the concept. We entirely agree with many of the problems that he identifies with the dominant mode of enquiry to date: namely survey and polling methods of attitudinal data. We are sure there are ways of improving on such quantitative methods although we are of the view that qualitative research is especially helpful for exploring the processes of social capital formation and the relationship between networks and norms so crucial to Putnam's use of the concept. Briefly, we discuss our own qualititive work involving intensive interviews with 120 activists drawn from a Citizens Audit of Britain. We address the importance of pre-existing trust and informal processes of mobilization, the significance of experiences of group involvement for generating norms of trust as well as distrust and the extent to which evaluations of such experiences influence wider views of participation and democracy in Britain. In sum, we totally endorse van Deth's call for the greater use of 'multi-methods and multi-level srategies' in empirical research by extending his plea to consider the valuable role of qualitative methods in the study of social capital.     

Researching women’s leadership in Asia and the Pacific – reflections on feminist research approaches in design and in practice

ABSTRACT

This article explores how the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) and partners have navigated the complexities and, sometimes competing, priorities, of feminist research methodology and values, in our practice. It demonstrates how, ultimately, decision-making processes along the way have been guided by the feminist values that underpin the research designs and the assertion that the process is as important as the outcome. We reflect in particular on the design and practice of two research projects undertaken by IWDA with partner women’s rights organisations in Asia Pacific. Under the Women’s Action for Voice and Empowerment programme, the projects – the Women’s Leadership Pathways research project and the Public Perceptions of Women as Leaders research project – explore the enablers and barriers to women’s leadership, from both public and private perspectives. The designs of both projects are mindful of hierarchies of authority and knowledge within the research processes that reinforce the status quo and power dynamics between the ‘expert’ and the ‘subject’ of the research. They also challenge the dynamics of power around the production and ownership of knowledge in academic spaces. They do this through collaborative designs that are locally led and owned, and through a strong valuing of women’s voices in research.     

Action‐Oriented Research: Strategies for Engaged Scholarship

Action‐oriented research is a methodological approach for doing collaborative research with practitioners and community partners that can inform practice, programs, community development, and policy while contributing to the scientific knowledge base. This article discusses how family scholars can use action‐oriented research to work together with community partners to address their need for useful information about their practices and programs. We present some practical strategies that can help guide the action‐oriented research process including how to develop collaborative relationships with community partners; suggestions for determining sound, action‐oriented research questions; guidelines for selecting and implementing appropriate research designs; and considerations regarding data collection and the dissemination of findings.     

Kin Keeper

Abstract

Cancer mortality issues for African-American women are undeniably real. It is also apparent that to address the issue of this unequal burden, different intervention approaches are necessary. Employing a family systems approach for African-American women and their families holds benefits for both cancer prevention and cancer treatment. The Kin Keeper Modelis based on the premise that the natural ways African-American women communicate various health messages to females in their family can be used to influence their cancer prevention and screening behaviors. This paper reports empirical research that demonstrates significant familial influence on African-American women's cancer prevention screening behaviors. Findings indicated that family influence provides insight into the intersection of family altruism with cultural familial decision-making. In addition, the findings underscore the strong influence family has on African-American women's propensity to