This is because these methods have one or more of the following features: value free, objective, reliable, representative and/or generalizable. You need to ensure you can evaluate these methods. Interpretivism and Qualitative Data Interpretivists tend to use an inductive approach to form theories, rather than the hypothetico-deductive method. This is when theories develop on the of evidence that has been collected. This enables ideas to be discovered that may not even be considered under the hypothetico-deductive method. This is otherwise known as grounded theory. Interpretivists mainly use the following qualitative techniques: Personal, public and historical documents. Unstructured/open-ended questionnaires. Informal/unstructured interviews. Focus groups/group interviews. Case studies. Participant and (sometimes) non-participant observation. This is because these methods enable a researcher to gain verstehen and understand the meanings/motivations of the people they are studying. They are therefore higher in validity. You need to ensure you can evaluate these methods. Feminist Methodology Feminism is concerned with the best methods for studying the experiences of women. Feminism and positivism Feminists have been critical of much positivist research for the following reasons: It ignored/excluded women and issues of concern to women. It simply treated as insignificant extensions of men (research on men was generalised to women). It uses malestream methods to research women. Quantitative methods result in differences in power between researchers and female participants. These methods also do not provide women with a voice to explain their experiences. Feminism and interpretivism Feminists see it as important to develop equal and close relationships with the women being studied. Therefore, verstehen is very important. This requires the use of more informal open ended methods, e.g. unstructured interviews/questionnaires, focus groups. These methods will also provide valid, in depth information on women’s lives whilst also encouraging women to open up, which may be important when discussing sensitive areas that may affect women more than men in society, e.g. domestic violence. An example of this is when Oakley used unstructured, conversational interviews when studying first time motherhood and the experience of becoming a mother in British society. Some Feminists do argue positivist research methods can be useful. For example, large scale surveys and official statistics can be useful to know the scale of issues faced by women in
This is because these methods have one or more of the following features: value free, objective, reliable, representative and/or generalizable. You need to ensure you can evaluate these methods. Interpretivism and Qualitative Data Interpretivists tend to use an inductive approach to form theories, rather than the hypothetico-deductive method. This is when theories develop on the of evidence that has been collected. This enables ideas to be discovered that may not even be considered under the hypothetico-deductive method. This is otherwise known as grounded theory. Interpretivists mainly use the following qualitative techniques: Personal, public and historical documents. Unstructured/open-ended questionnaires. Informal/unstructured interviews. Focus groups/group interviews. Case studies. Participant and (sometimes) non-participant observation. This is because these methods enable a researcher to gain verstehen and understand the meanings/motivations of the people they are studying. They are therefore higher in validity. You need to ensure you can evaluate these methods. Feminist Methodology Feminism is concerned with the best methods for studying the experiences of women. Feminism and positivism Feminists have been critical of much positivist research for the following reasons: It ignored/excluded women and issues of concern to women. It simply treated as insignificant extensions of men (research on men was generalised to women). It uses malestream methods to research women. Quantitative methods result in differences in power between researchers and female participants. These methods also do not provide women with a voice to explain their experiences. Feminism and interpretivism Feminists see it as important to develop equal and close relationships with the women being studied. Therefore, verstehen is very important. This requires the use of more informal open ended methods, e.g. unstructured interviews/questionnaires, focus groups. These methods will also provide valid, in depth information on women’s lives whilst also encouraging women to open up, which may be important when discussing sensitive areas that may affect women more than men in society, e.g. domestic violence. An example of this is when Oakley used unstructured, conversational interviews when studying first time motherhood and the experience of becoming a mother in British society. Some Feminists do argue positivist research methods can be useful. For example, large scale surveys and official statistics can be useful to know the scale of issues faced by women in
methods___debates_revision_guide.docx