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Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms

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... After searching the tables of contents and indexes for the term rigor, it was interesting to discover that this word, although often used when discussing research methods, did not appear in the indexes of any of the research method books selected. However, the term rigor does appear in many of the books in reference to discussions about objectivity, neutrality, reliability, replication, and validity (e.g., Barzun & Graft, 1992;Daly, 1996;deVous, 1995;Greenfield, 1996;Kellahear, 1993;McNally, 1979;Neuman, 1997;Oakley, 1992;Riley, 1990;Sarantakos, 1998;Silverman 1993). The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines rigor, in a literal sense, to mean "severity, strictures, harshness, harsh measures, strict enforcement of rules" (Sykes, 1985, p. 898). ...
... To carry out the in-depth interviews, rather than creating distance, we encourage a rapport based on a sense of shared understanding and empathy. Following our own experience and that of other feminist researchers (see, for example, Oakley, 1992;Reinharz, 1992), we hoped to gain the trust of the women to enable them to feel comfortable about articulating their opinions, feelings, thoughts, and experiences on the issues that were raised within the interview. Our aim in adopting these methods is, of course, to ensure that our research is faithful to our material, meaningful, and alive with richly textured details and information. ...
... By engaging in a conversation rather than adopting a distanced and neutral kind of attitude, Kate's complex understandings of femininity and images of the feminine and her body were able to emerge. Although there are potential pitfalls in overidentifying with research respondents (see, for example, Oakley, 1992), a degree of empathy and connection was necessary if the interview was to be successful. Kate's excited and humorous rejoinders were affirming to the interviewer in that she was attuned to Kate's meaning. ...
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In this article, the authors discuss the issue of rigor in relation to qualitative social research. It takes a critical focus on the inadequacy of applying a quantitative concept of rigor to evaluate qualitative research. Informed through the researchers’own experience, suggestions are made for a concept of rigor that meets the needs of qualitative research more adequately. Incorporating a notion of ethics, the authors develop a cluster of terms around which they argue that qualitative research can meaningfully speak about rigor: attentiveness, empathy, carefulness, sensitivity, respect, reflection, conscientiousness, engagement,awareness, and openness.
... Early feminist methodological literature argued in favour of redressing power imbalances between researcher and participant (e.g. Gorelick, 1991;Harding & Norberg, 2005;Oakley, 1981). This included emphasising the contextual specificities of relationalities between researcher/researched, in terms of power, rapport, reciprocity and reflexivities (e.g. ...
... This included emphasising the contextual specificities of relationalities between researcher/researched, in terms of power, rapport, reciprocity and reflexivities (e.g. Gorelick, 1991;Harding & Norberg, 2005;Nagar, 2002;Oakley, 1981;Rose, 1997;Ryan-Flood & Gill, 2009). Underpinning this, feminist research methodologies often identify the empowerment of research participants as an explicit aim (Burgess-Proctor, 2015;Cornwall & Sardenberg, 2014;Kelly et al., 1994;Ryan-Flood & Gill, 2009). ...
... This involved asking questions in a way that allowed participants to direct the interview and centred their voices (Campbell et al., 2010); and crucially, not contradicting participants, even when what they said was unsettling to her (Becker & Aiello, 2013). On the other hand, Carol did not not seek, as feminist research often does, to "empower" participants, where empowerment involves offering information to address the problems they are describing (Oakley, 1981); assuring them that they are not alone in holding those positions (Campbell et al., 2010); or connecting them with others who share their positions (Cornwall & Sardenberg, 2014). ...
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Queer and feminist research centralises issues of power and relationalities; methodologies frequently emphasise the process of conducting research with people who are marginalised. The queer and feminist methodological literature also opens a door to complicating binary understandings of “right”/ “wrong” “powerful”/ “disempowered” relations, including those between the researcher and her research subjects. The “wrong” people are those who do not conform with expectations of typical queer and feminist research participants. In this paper, we introduce interviews conducted in Ireland with people who held concerns or oppositions to socio-legal changes in favour of increased rights related to gender, sexualities and/or abortion. We explore three moments in which Carol, author 1 for this article, did not contradict statements with which she disagreed. Building on queer and feminist insights for research that listens quietly with curiosity, we argue in favour of methodological approaches that move past considerations of complicity and platforming, to explore what discomfort can tell us about the interplay between research encounters and dynamic contexts.
... Using the concept of the 'female gaze' (Riley et al., 2016) -i.e., the self-assessing, judgemental gaze that women direct at one another and at themselves in postfeminist contexts -I offer salient examples from my fieldwork in order to show the ways in which the female gaze shaped my understanding of how women look at themselves and at each other (including at me, as interviewer), both in person and in pictures. My goal is to analyse gazing as a competence, and more specifically as a structured and regulated female competence in postfeminist culture, but also to bring a greater reflexivity to bear on the embodied experience of fieldwork (Oakley, 1981;Pillow, 1997). As I came to learn in the course of this project, the act of gazing while conversing, accompanied by the corresponding verbal cues, played a crucial, if unexpected and unplanned, role in data production and in my subsequent choice of research questions. ...
... Feminist scholars' reflections on the interview setting have fostered a critical awareness of the role of normative standards of anonymity, instrumentality, and neutrality in conversational methods. I refer in particular to Oakley's seminal work on the gendered relational dimension involved when a woman, and especially a feminist woman, interviews other women (Oakley, 1981;Tang, 2002). ...
... In keeping with the description offered by Oakley (1981), the length and complexities of a longitudinal project demanded that I establish a friendly relationship with participants from the start: being frank, transparent, and forthcoming was key to motivating them not to discontinue their participation in the project. It was my hope that kindness, enthusiasm, and a willingness on my part to answer participants' questions would be returned. ...
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Building on a constructivist understanding of the interview techniques common to the social sciences, in this paper I discuss and analyse through a feminist sociological lens the interview setting that I built and experienced during two years of fieldwork with a small sample of Canadian women. Relevant conversational gestures exchanged in such a setting usually encompass verbal and bodily cues, but what principally concerns me here is a further aspect of the interview setting: namely, its visuality, and the related act of gazing carried out by the (female) participants. Using the concept of the 'female gaze' (Riley et al., 2016)-i.e., the self-assessing, judgemental gaze that women direct at one another and at themselves in postfeminist contexts-I offer salient examples from my fieldwork in order to show the ways in which the female gaze shaped my understanding of how women look at themselves and at each other (including at me, as interviewer), both in person and in pictures. My goal is to analyse gazing as a competence, and more specifically as a structured and regulated female competence in postfeminist culture, but also to bring a greater reflexivity to bear on the embodied experience of fieldwork (Oakley, 1981; Pillow, 1997). As I came to learn in the course of this project, the act of gazing while conversing, accompanied by the corresponding verbal cues, played a crucial, if unexpected and unplanned, role in data production and in my subsequent choice of research questions.
... This situation was challenged through studies such as Girls, Wives, Factory Lives (1981) … second wave feminism were incredibly potent for those of us who were young sociologists at that time, and were bound to make a huge impact on what we did and the way in which we thought about doing it … the kind of ideas that were coming out of the feminist politics. (2007, p. 62) For Finch (2007) the critical point in the UK in linking qualitative methods (biographical) to feminist research was the publication by Ann Oakley (1981) of her article "Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms". Understanding this historical context and influence of second wave feminism is important as it still continues to shape the epistemological and empirical approaches used by feminist researchers and feminist adult education researchers in particular. ...
... Feminist contribution to methodology and biographical interviewing manifests itself in several ways and contrasts greatly, as stated above, with traditional approaches to research. This involves establishing a different and democratic relationship between the interviewer and interviewee (Stanley & Wise, 1993;Oakley, 1981) so that feminist researchers work with women and not on women (Oakley, 1981). It thus aims to avoid exploitation and an instrumental approach to research. ...
... Feminist contribution to methodology and biographical interviewing manifests itself in several ways and contrasts greatly, as stated above, with traditional approaches to research. This involves establishing a different and democratic relationship between the interviewer and interviewee (Stanley & Wise, 1993;Oakley, 1981) so that feminist researchers work with women and not on women (Oakley, 1981). It thus aims to avoid exploitation and an instrumental approach to research. ...
... The interviewer is guided by an ethic of detachment (Oakley, 1981) The interviewer is guided by an ethics of care ...
... The interviewer is self-consciously aware of their subjectivity (Roulston, 2010). Assumes research is political (Bell & Newby in Oakley, 1981). ...
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My starting point in this paper is the question of whether the interview, as a method to contribute knowledge, has become incommensurable and thus superfluous within post-qualitative research frameworks. I take seriously the critiques posited by scholars in the field of post-qualitative inquiry and seek to clarify the generative possibilities of aligning interviews with a post-structural paradigm. My incorporation of narrative practices into this exploration not only grounds the discussion in a narrative practice-based methodology but also offers readers practical ideas for addressing the challenges of paradigmatic congruency. This approach signals a methodological innovation, and I propose a practical process for scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in reflecting on their interview practices and methodological responsibilities. In doing so, I hope this paper can serve as a resource for those seeking to navigate the intricate landscape of qualitative research methodologies, contributing to ongoing discussions and advancing the field with narrative-practice informed research practices.
... (2009) señalan que los estudios feministas aseveraron que la relación entrevistadora/entrevistada solía implicar mayores niveles de confianza en contraposición a entrevistadores varones, aumentando la posibilidad de acceder a la experiencia "real" de la entrevistada. En la misma línea se encuentran autoras como Oakley (1981), para quien es relevante que la investigadora integre su propia experiencia como mujer en la relación con la entrevistada para compartir conocimientos y entregar apoyo si alguna pregunta así lo ameritase. En este sentido, la reciprocidad invitaría a mayores niveles de confianza en la interacción desplegada en la entrevista. ...
... Así mismo, siguiendo a Oakley (1981), la reciprocidad de las experiencias permitieron, en la relación entrevistadora-entrevistada, que la propia entrevista como técnica de investigación no se configurase como una suerte de guion de preguntas indagatorias sino que como una conversación entre pares en la que se comparten experiencias y se desdibuja la relación jerárquica de la diada investigadora-investigada. En esta línea, tal como resaltó Ali (2012), se pueden apreciar ventajas al compartir características espaciales e históricas con las participantes de una determinada investigación, tanto a la hora de lograr confianza para que se compartan elementos íntimos de las historias de vida como para la comprensión de dimensiones vitales que desconfiguran la construcción dicotómica del "nosotras/otras". ...
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A partir de una investigación en la que participaron migrantes latinoamericanas en contexto de monomarentalidad, se presenta una reflexión epistemológica vinculada a la perspectiva feminista del punto de vista y de los conocimientos situados. El objetivo es subrayar la relevancia de integrar una óptica epistémica feminista en los estudios de género, tanto en la realización del trabajo de campo así como en la producción científica académica. En este sentido, se plantea el interés de revisar, desde un orden crítico, aspectos vinculados tanto a la objetividad-neutralidad científica como a la relación entre investigadora y colectivos en investigación
... During the interviews, a non-hierarchical and interactive attitude between the researchers and interviewees was sought, following Ann Oakley's epistemological contributions to interviewing women (Oakley 1981(Oakley , 2016. This perspective is in line with the participants' agency in the narrative practice: the interviewee as a source of knowledge, and the interviewer as an active collaborator in the co-production of the story, e.g., through the constant interaction and validation of the discourse (Gubrium and Holstein 2012). ...
... The study of gender-based violence through a narrative approach has resulted in the conducting of high-quality interviews in the framework of the IMPROVE project. The perspective of Oakley's non-hierarchical approach to interviewing women (Oakley 1981(Oakley , 2016 has also contributed to the result. The women involved have expressed a sense of comfort, confidence, and satisfaction in participating in the project. ...
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Background: Gender-based violence (GBV) remains largely under-reported and under-detected. The European project IMPROVE seeks to identify the needs of victims in terms of facilitating their access to support services and to assist frontline responder organisations in enhancing their competencies and capabilities to make the most of innovative solutions that enable and accelerate policy implementation. Methods: To meet these goals, IMPROVE uses narrative interviews, understood as unstructured tools that produce and analyse stories that are significant in people’s lives. These interviews provide the space for re-thinking; there is a reflection on implicit and taken-for-granted norms and insights are given into the life and thoughts of vulnerable groups, in this case, the women victim-survivors of GBV. Results: This methodological approach has led to high-quality interviews in which the women involved have felt comfortable, confident, and satisfied, as evidenced by the depth, complexity, and extension of the knowledge generated, and the commitment of the interviewees to the various activities proposed by the researchers. Conclusions: The narrative approach has allowed for a sensitive investigation into the private lives of GBV victim-survivors and, as a consequence, has contributed to the creation of new knowledge that can provide an in-depth and incisive view of the help offered by frontline responder organisations, from which improvements can be proposed.
... More than this, these methods contribute a political shift towards playfulness that invites us to expose orientations by elevating the relational, sensory, embodied and contingent ways of knowing and experiencing the space. Here then, I am drawing from 'rapid ethnography' (see Millen, 2000;Handwerker, 2001;Vindrola-Padros, 2021), 'walk-along methods' (see Kusenbach, 2003;2016;Walkerdine, 2007;Carpiano, 2009;Rose et al., 2010), inventive and affective methods (Lury and Wakeford, 2014; Knudsen and Stage, 2015b), live methods (Back and Puwar, 2012), and feminist onto-epistemologies (Oakley, 1981;Ang, 1996;Skeggs, 1997;Barad, 2007). Taken together, these approaches enable us to feel our way through complex entanglements of sets of politics. ...
Article
Drawing on iterative, empirical work that investigates the conditions of an everyday hypermediated environment, this paper focuses on experiences of livestreaming from the Disney Parks in order to think about the embodied and the technological in relation to the limits of mobility within this configuration of space(s). Central to the issues I am taking up here is an idea of space which is doubly lived: first, as a physical, tangible space (in thinking about live streamers in the Disney Parks), and second, as a virtual space (such as Internet streaming sites such as YouTube, for example). As such, I am arguing that we can think about these spaces as a vicarious space in which vicarity is underpinned by a sense of mobility and an investment in the embodied. Vicarious space is implicitly configured through the technological in relation to video-sharing platforms and within social, cultural, political, and economic structures and systems which are – ultimately – everyday and mundane. These ideas come to be framed by an overwhelming sense of industry that is threaded through enmeshed within neo-liberal political structures. Yet industry is not often seen here, and instead, these practices and experiences relating to live streaming are understood as centrally relating to pleasure and affect. What I am asking here then is how is vicarity imagined in terms of embodied subjectivity and agency? And how should we understand this in terms of the Internet and opportunities for connectivity?
... Over the years, academics have taken into account the character of the researcher-as-instrument as an interpreter of empirical data and as someone who participates in the development of ideas (Janesick, 2001;Singer et al., 1983). Feminist ethnographers like Stack (1995), who provided groundbreaking research on "dramatising both writer and subject" in fieldwork on neighbourhoods and communities, further developed this idea after feminist UK scholars such as Oakley (1981) and Graham (1983) criticised quantitative research methods that assumed a detached and value-free researcher in the acquisition and interpretation of gathered data.Scholars' interest in research tools has more recently expanded to include particular interviewing techniques. The nuances of interview talks have frequently been studied using conversation analysis methods, examining the ways in which the "how" of a particular interview impacts the "what" that is generated (Holstein and Gubrium, 1995;Pillow, 2003). ...
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This paper is designed to answer the question "It is assumed that every experiment has a cost which has to be paid for and the statistician must meet the cost of a working decision by paying the fine corresponding to his or her error". The paper discusses extensively the concept of experiment, by reviewing it as the scientific approach of learning about things around us. The paper also reviewed that statistical error is the difference between the obtained value of the collected data and the actual value of the collected data and identified type 1 and type 2 errors as types of statistical errors committed in educational research. Strategies to minimize statistical error were reviewed. The paper reviewed that if errors are spotted in the handling of statistics by journals, the authors (researcher) may be asked to make extensive changes or may even face rejection for errors committed. It is, therefore, concluded that the researcher is liable for every error in every research, if the right design, Population, Sample, analysis, hypothesis testing, and reporting among others were used, the potential error would have been reduced. Finally, the paper suggested that researchers should be careful and critical in selecting design, sample, instrument and statistical tests, researchers should study carefully data collection, sampling, measurement, and reporting methods should be implored to reduce hypothesis testing errors and researchers should use statistical software that allows for programming, this will eliminate possibility of errors from copying the wrong values or pasting them incorrectly.
... In other words, Phyllis Willmott was pioneering recognition of relationships and reciprocity in social research a quarter of a century before Ann Oakley (1981) wrote her influential piece about interviewing from a feminist perspective. Oakley challenged traditional, mechanistic methods textbook prescriptions about interviewers only eliciting, not giving, information to interviewees, remaining objective and neutral, and not interacting with interviewees beyond the information gathering exercise. ...
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This article explores the role of social researchers’ wives in post-war British studies, in particular drawing on the diaries kept by the wives of two noted sociologists while their husbands, Peter Willmott and Dennis Marsden, were respectively undertaking studies in the working class communities of Bethnal Green and Salford. The wives – Phyllis Willmott and Pat Marsden, made contributions to the community studies in the mid 1950s/early 1960s, at the point where British sociology and social research was on the cusp of transition towards formalisation and professionalisation. The wives were co-opted into the academic endeavour. Their practices as part of their family lives became professionalised as they undertook knowledge gathering, bridging between community and scholarship for their husbands, and reflecting on their own practice. The paper enables contemporary social researchers to recognise the part played by the wives of major sociological figures in the establishment of the men’s reputations and the disciplinary enterprise of sociology.
... The usual form of interviewing is a masculine model with structured methodological guides to gain objectivity and distance. To make interviewing a more feminist method the relationship between interviewer and interviewee needs to be non-hierarchical (Oakley, 1993). This notion of the non-hierarchical interview has been criticised as there is almost always some power imbalance between researchers and participants. ...
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This paper outlines the research process undertaken when using a small-scale qualitative study to explore the experiences of mothers in the tertiary education sector as they combine their working lives with their mothering. It explores the context for the research and reviews the literature surrounding mothers working in education, feminist policy analysis and feminist motherhood research. The use of Matricentric Feminism and Critical Realism to provide a theoretical framework to the study is discussed, along with an explanation of how the two differing theories may be combined to create a novel analytical framework. The paper explains the methods used within a feminist methodology and a discussion of the methods of data analysis used is undertaken. It then concludes by suggesting how all these can combine to allow for an explanation of how policies are experienced by the mothers in the study and how changes could be made to improve this experience.
... The Facilitator also noted that he altered his demeanour: I also put on my usual facilitator, not teacher demeanor, so the participants would feel more comfortable saying what they actually thought vs what they thought they were supposed to say. This decision likely reduced the power hierarchy between the adult interviewers and boy interviewees, aligning with feminist calls for non-hierarchical, empathetic research (Oakley, 1981). However, such approaches can clash with intersectional feminist goals if they allow oppressive practices to go unchallenged. ...
Article
This article explores the affective dynamics of researching boys’ views on gender inequalities, (anti)feminism and ‘misogyny influencers’ such as Andrew Tate. We interviewed boys (aged 13–14) who had participated in ‘rethinking masculinity’ workshops delivered by an educational charity at their school. Using an affective ethnographic approach, this article focuses on a particular research encounter, where boys expressed heightened misogyny and homophobia. Through discussion of interview transcripts, field notes and retrospective memory work about the experience of participating in the research, we dwell within the deep discomfort and ethical challenges of conducting research with boys who express these views. We conclude with a set of recommendations for researchers working at the intersection of gender/sex/uality and feminist pedagogy and in dialogue with discourses and practices designed to critically engage with masculinities, considering how gender transformative work may need to disrupt the gender binary.
... Consideramos que esta técnica es la más adecuada ya que permite obtener una información muy completa y rica de la compleja realidad al que estas mujeres hacen frente. Las entrevistas se han guiado por los conocimientos aportados por las epistemologías feministas y, en concreto, por la propuesta de practicar un enfoque interactivo, receptivo y no jerárquico, susceptible de exponer la identidad de las investigadoras como mujeres, cuando se considere útil para lograr los objetivos de la investigación (Oakley, 1981). ...
... These approaches give participants the opportunity "to speak up, to participate […] to express [themselves] and to have the expression valued by others" (Abma et al. 2019: 127). Participant-centred feminist researchers such as Mauthner and Doucet (1998), Mason (2018), and Oakley (1981) have emphasised the co-constructed nature of the research process, prioritising space for intimacy and reciprocity between researcher and participant, and underlining the importance of listening to participants on their own terms, valuing their experience and expertise, and relating to them as equals. These approaches tend to minimise the typically more powerful, institutional position of the researcher, working towards greater equality in researcher-participant relationships (Nind 2011). ...
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This article outlines ethical principles for ‘participant-centred linguistic research’ (PCLR), a term we coin to incorporate a range of linguistic research approaches that place importance on the involvement of participants. Linguistics, as a field, has strengthened its focus on participant-centred and socially situated research, recognising the value of better understanding our participants’ practices and linguistic knowledge. However, this also brings ethical challenges for our research practice. Drawing on three differing UK-based case studies from the authors’ own work, the article explores complex issues that can arise during PCLR and establishes four key principles that cut across our varied experiences. Firstly, we address participant consent and confidentiality, establishing the principles: 1. Informed consent and ethics protocols are dialogic processes and 2. Expectations around confidentiality and anonymity can shift during a project. Secondly, we address our research relationships with participants, our key principles being: 3. The researcher-participant relationship is complex and variable and 4. Close attention must be paid to power dynamics within the research setting . Ultimately, we argue that the human interactions and relationships involved in PCLR mean research may inevitably be somewhat unpredictable; researchers therefore need an understanding of the ethical parameters of their practice to navigate these complexities.
... Regarding feminist research methods and intersectionality, the former is crucial, because it gives voices to the marginalized groups that are often excluded from knowledge production and policymaking, concerned with issues of broader social change and social justice (Wambui, 2013, p. 2). Furthermore, "feminist researchers promote a participatory model for research where the relationship between researcher and the researched is nonhierarchical, non-authoritarian, nonexploitative and non-manipulative" (Oakley, 1981). In this qualitative research, my purpose was to understand the social reality of Vietnamese queers and to investigate the meaning of the lives experienced by these individuals. ...
... Feminists and Neo-Marxists have undermined this position and suggested instead that academic disengagement is a myth. They claim that the researcher always takes part in value and relation systems, that a sympathetic attitude does not prevent him from reaching a new form of objectivity (Terragni 1998;Oakley 1981). On the contrary, good research relies on personal participation and a strong interest of the researcher can be positive. ...
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This thesis examines the organisational principles, repertoires of contention, practices, and the political culture of the Centro Sociale Occupato Rivolta as an expression of the Disobedient movement. The study, which is based on 42 interviews, participant observation and original documents, discusses the main theories on social movements which combine different theoretical perspectives, namely resource mobilisation, new social movements and the theory of political opportunity structure. Providing a definition of CSO as a convenient name to indicate a number of profoundly heterogeneous experiences that rely on illegal occupations of empty buildings and the principle of self-management, the study interprets the Rivolta as a proactive subject and political entrepreneur. These two concepts refer to the attempt of the Rivolta to overcome their identity as a new-left organisation, its ability of mobilising symbolic and material resources and to its continuous change and development. The case of the Rivolta shows that a movement actor has to continually 'destroy' old conditions and create new ones in order to survive and expand. The combination of different theoretical approaches and the analysis of the Rivolta has allowed the research to highlight some specific issues. Firstly, this movement area has overcome the dichotomy between conflict for recognition and for socio-economic resource distribution. While the Rivolta is an actor that mobilises resources, it also aims to promote its autonomous cultural identity and to extend social and political rights in society. Secondly, the relations between local and national institutions and the Disobedient movement area, far from being linear, either in terms of conflict or dialogue, are changeable and discontinuous. The study shows that the extra-institutional advocacy of this movement network still persists and has been combined with institutional participation. Finally, the thesis shows that the movement area to which the Rivolta belongs, in exploiting the opportunities offered by the general context, has set its struggles, claims and protests both at the local and the global dimension, marginalising national issues and targets.
... Throughout the interviews, I tried to adopt the approach of creating an interactive storytelling character, which we can refer to as a feminist preference for qualitative methods. My intention during the interviews was to create a perspective of my own within interviews, as interaction establishes more egalitarian relationships between a researcher and the research participants (Oakley 1981;Finch 1993). Ken Plummer (2004: 21) looked at stories as joint actions: 'One actor is the storyteller; the other is the coaxer who brings people to the edge of telling a story they might never have told before.' ...
... Ezzel nemcsak a kérdés-felelet dinamika vált kölcsönössé, hanem a hétköznapi tevékenységekről, így a lakberendezésről, a főzésről, az ízlésről való egyeztetéssel a "lakozáson" mint közös élményen keresztül is összekapcsolódtunk. A közös tapasztalatok forrása, az otthon egyfelől dinamizálta a feminista interjúkban felismert közös "női mivoltot" (Oakley 1981(Oakley , 2016 és ezeket a nőiesnek tekintett kompetenciákon (háztartásvezetés, lakásberendezés) keresztül tematizálta. Másfelől az otthon maga lett az a kitüntetett közös pont, közös tapasztalat, amin keresztül a társadalmi pozíciónk is valamelyest közeledett, hiszen definíció szerint már Helén sem volt hajléktalan. ...
Article
A tanulmányban egy hajléktalanságból kikerült idős nő „lakásperformanszként” értelmezett énbemutatásán (Goffman 1981) keresztül vizsgálom azt a kérdést, hogy „mit jelent lakni”.1 Ezt a szociális bérlakásba frissen beköltözött nő otthonhoz, otthonteremtéshez kötődő performatív aktusain és az ezekhez kapcsolódó történeteken keresztül értelmezem. A lakásperformansz megmutatja a hajléktalanság és az otthonteremtés komplex összefüggéseit, és felvillantja a hiányokból épülő „hajléktalan identitás” (Dúll 2015a, 2015b; Kántor–Dúll 2018) transzformációjának lehetőségét. A lakásperformanszot az elbeszélés és a hétköznapi gyakorlat kölcsönös egymásra hatása alakította (Kovács 2006), ami a klasszikus interjúhelyzet átkeretezéséhez vezetett. A lakásperformansz azonban így válhatott a felkeresett nő saját hangon történő megszólalásának, énbemutatásának keretévé.
... Pembentukan empati sangat penting untuk mendapatkan informasi yang mendalam, terutama di mana penyelidikan masalah dan informan memiliki kepentingan pribadi yang kuat. Metode dan masalah wawancara dibahas dalam Gorden (1969), Measor (1985), Oakley (1981), Plummer (1983) dan Spradley (1979 ...
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... It is also often driven by intent to establish a sense of affinity and intimacy between the interviewer and interviewee (Amundsen 2023;Roulston 2010). Feminist interviewing also inherently challenges the notion that research should or can be conducted in a neutral manner (Oakley 1981). ...
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Building on critiques of ‘traditional’ fieldwork methods that not only produce masculinist and imperialist epistemes but also circumscribe possibilities of what can be studied and by whom, this article unpacks what it might mean to study the global North from the global South. My research focuses on the figure of the Indian doctoral candidate, with field sites in India, engaging in feminist knowledge production within American universities. My fieldwork then is not so much rooted in a physical site but is shifting terrain marked by many intra-actions – of peoples, technologies, of theories, and of knowledges. If ethnographic writing depends on conjuring the sensory and experiential time and place of ‘immersive’ fieldwork in order to achieve credibility, then my own writing steps away from this credo and focuses on politics of in-betweenness, fragmented-ness, and dissonance in an attempt to establish integrity. Unpacking the possibilities and constraints of researching from afar, rather than simply claiming closeness to my interlocutors or an abiding sense of mutual trust, I choose to claim fictions, frictions, and fragments that pass between and through us to reimagine feminist futures of research.
... Nonetheless, caregiver-centric motives for interpersonal emotion regulation have, to date, not received much attention. In general, well-adjusted relationships always involve a joint consideration of one's own and others' interests (Helgeson and Fritz, 2000;Oakley, 2013). It is in the best interest of both the survivors and caregiver, particularly in the long run, that caregivers appropriately attend to their own emotional needs (Lambert et al., 2012;Girgis et al., 2013;Sklenarova et al., 2015). ...
... Feminist practitioners have historically advocated for epistemologies centring women's voices and lived experiences, and which treat forms of labour constructed as feminine, such as emotion management, as legitimate forms of knowledge, and frame women as skilled and conscious knowledge practitioners (Landman, 2006). Within feminist research, qualitative forms of inquiry such as interviews have been valued as ways of engaging in knowledge building with participants, who are treated as active collaborators and valuable purveyors of knowledge (Oakley, 1981). ...
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This article extends existing scholarship on contingent or temporary‐contract university instructors’ emotional agency by employing the Bolton's emotion management and Cottingham's emotional capital typologies in tandem. In interviews with 40 instructors from universities across Canada, participants described acquiring both primary and secondary emotional capital as an embodied psychosocial resource through past education, upbringing and culture, and knowledge and skills from previous work and training experiences respectively. They then deployed this capital through emotion management based in both social and organizational feeling rules in their capacity as professors. This allowed instructors to reinforce their own sense of purpose, authority and competence as instructors, and to establish fulfilling relationships with students through teaching and mentoring which they infused with personal meaning. However, instructors’ agency was also curtailed to varying degrees, by both institutional attitudes around academic contingency and sexist, and in some cases, racist or otherwise patronizing attitudes from students. Despite this, instructors were often able to reaffirm their identities as instructors by using emotion management in self‐affirming ways, such as by drawing on self‐confidence gained through previous occupations and training, and facilitating cultural backgrounds shared with students through emotional management.
... The level of comfort, understanding, and openness racially minoritised people experience in the intervieweeinterviewer interaction is undoubtedly affected by this racial discordance (Holstein & Gubrium, 1995). The interviewers may have been unaware of their own discomfort and would have missed some opportunities to probe specifically for racial conflict because of a lack of understanding and shared experience (Davies, 1999;Oakley & Roberts, 1981). We suggest that it is exactly this lack of researcher diversity that has led to the paucity of research literature on the topic of racial prejudice and abuse in LTC. ...
... Using interviews is about getting "people to explain their answers at length" (Drever 1997, p. 6) and drawing on these statements to identify common features and differing views across the interviews. A space was created where the respondents could engage in a dialogic process and feel more at ease and less mechanical in their relationship with me as the researcher (Oakley 1981, Rubin and Rubin 1995, Bechhofer and Paterson 2000, Denzin and Lincoln 2005. ...
Book
Worldwide women constitute the majority of the teaching force, but men are more likely to achieve headship. Internationally a number of scholars working within sociology and the sociology of education have focused on the continued influence of gender on the shaping of identity and choices in relation to leadership, work and home. But in Greece the under-representation of women in educational leadership has received limited attention. Why are there so few women in educational leadership? How are leadership and gender constructed by men and women head teachers and teachers? Are the perceptions of men and women different and gendered? What is the future for women in leadership in Greece? Papanastasiou uses qualitative data from interviews with men and women head teachers and teachers in Greece and analyzes them using a feminist social constructionist framework to provide some answers to these key questions. In doing so, the book sheds light on social, cultural and political factors that influence women’s potential advancement in educational leadership.
... In light of this, the researching interviewer shared commonalities with the participants, being a woman of similar age with similar educational experiences and social background. Additionally, drawing on previous research, one approach involved minimizing the perceived gap between the researcher and participants (Oakley, 1981(Oakley, , 2016Tang, 2002). To foster a rapport and a sense of equality, the interviewer started each interview with an informal conversation, allowing the participants and interviewer to establish a connection. ...
Article
Under the one-child policy in China, post-80s women have experienceddramatic social, economic, and political changes that differ from previousgenerations. This article explores post-80s women’s experiences of beau-tification in their different life stages from a feminist perspective, drawingupon 14 in-depth interviews with post-80s women to examine theirperception of beauty and beauty practices in different life stages. Threemain themes emerged that were intricately associated with two distinctlife stages. During their transition from schoolgirls to young women, (1)participants perceive their younger selves as naïve, passive receivers ofthe beauty culture. When transitioning from young women towardsbecoming wives and mothers, (2) their values regarding beauty shiftfrom emphasizing outer beauty to emphasizing inner beauty. (3) Theyalso transition to embracing natural beauty standards. This paper arguesthat these women’s perceptions of beauty and beauty practices are fluidand change across different life stages. ‘Trivialised’ everyday beauty dis-course exists to enable them to negotiate beauty practices and genderroles. This research suggests that young Chinese women, especially thoseleaving high school and entering university, would benefit from readilyaccessible academic feminist knowledge and debate regarding beautyculture to facilitate critical thinking and informed decision making.
... This author asserts that personal involvement in research is not a bias but the condition under which people get to know each other [5] (p. 58), and she recognizes that the interdependence between researchers and research participants is reciprocal in as much as the former also depends on the latter being willing to contribute their memories and stories of their lives [6] (p. 209). ...
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Ethical issues are very relevant in the field of women's, gender and/or feminist studies. The aim of this article is to highlight the ethical challenges faced by the authors in their research process, with specific reference to two projects on gender and disasters in which they have been involved. In general, we try to avoid sexist bias throughout the complete research process, from the definition of the objectives themselves to the methodology design, where we ensure diversity in the selection of participants in order to take into consideration the variety of voices present in society, especially those of women. Also, when developing our research, we take into account the power relationships involved, both between those who participate in the fieldwork and with the researchers themselves. To counteract the effects of such relations, we have considered people's wellbeing and the humanization of the whole process. Finally, when it comes to the dissemination of the results and their transfer to society at large, we follow the same principles and actively integrate the people involved. Considering these issues benefits the research process and makes the resultant knowledge more ethical and socially useful, in addition to promoting more egalitarian gender relations.
... Hasta el día de hoy continúa el trabajo en su comunidad a través de actividades culturales y educativas. El trabajo de campo se desarrolló entre 2014 y 2019, con técnicas como las entrevistas en profundidad no sexistas(Oakley, 1981) -a seis jóvenes varones y mujeres cisgénero que tenían entre 22 a 35 años-, la observación participante de reuniones, talleres, festivales y el análisis de documentos académicos (de producciones escritas de los y las jóvenes), materiales audiovisuales y posteos en redes sociales (que incluyó el año 2020). Si bien los estudios de caso son divergentes en cuanto al ámbito en el cual se desarrollan las prácticas juveniles, nos interesa observar qué cuestiones se ponen en diálogo para comprender la politización juvenil en sus diversas expresiones espaciales y temporales. ...
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A lo largo de las últimas décadas presenciamos fenómenos de protesta social, acciones colectivas y organización con un fuerte componente juvenil en todo el mundo. Este artículo tiene como objetivo reflexionar sobre los procesos de politización del período 2015-2020 en diferentes ámbitos de socialización juveniles: una escuela secundaria pública de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y un centro cultural barrial en el Gran Mendoza. Analizamos la reconfiguración de las dinámicas participativas desde las demandas y las acciones de las agendas juveniles. La investigación es cualitativa y con una perspectiva interpretativa se basa en un estudio de caso múltiple. Utilizamos entrevistas en profundidad, observaciones participantes y análisis documental de archivos. Entre los principales hallazgos encontramos que los contextos políticos y sociales influyen de manera directa en las formas de hacer política de los/as jóvenes y los niveles de permeabilidad de las agendas públicas varían según el ámbito de pertenencia.
... In fact, a detached impersonal engagement is not possible if we want to understand the lived realities of our participants. Oakley (1981) challenges the concept of objectivity in interviews leading to "hygienic research" (p. 58). ...
Article
Purpose In ethnographic research, negotiating insider–outsider perspectives is essential in order to get closer to the participants’ lives. By highlighting the importance of empathy and reflexivity, the paper attempts to trace my reflexive navigation as a novice researcher as I enter the field as an outsider. The process of co-creation between the researcher and the participant is mediated by the nuances of the researcher’s identity, thereby shaping the researcher–participant relationship. Design/methodology/approach The current study elaborates my journey as a Ph.D. scholar in an ethnographic study of persons with spinal cord injury or amputation. The different themes organised around my personal reflections discuss the various challenges I faced and how I navigated through them. Findings The paper reflects on how different aspects of my identity, such as being non-disabled, a female and differences in socioeconomic status shaped the researcher–participant relationship. Additionally, it highlights how I traverse through the blurred worlds of insider–outsider and explore the role of reflexivity and empathy in creating a horizontal researcher–participant relationship. Originality/value This reflexive journey offers potential insights into budding researchers who often face dilemmas whether or not it is necessary for qualitative researchers to be members of the population they are studying. The paper also contributes to an understanding around practising reflexivity while working with a sensitive population. It argues researchers to look beyond the insider–outsider debate and utilise reflexivity as a tool for a nonhierarchical researcher–participant relationship.
... Pembentukan empati sangat penting untuk memperoleh informasi yang mendalam, terutama saat penyelidikan masalah dan informan memiliki kepentingan pribadi yang kuat. Metode dan masalah wawancara dibahas dalam Gorden (1969), Measor (1985), Oakley (1981), Plummer (1983) dan Spradley (1979). ...
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Buku ini sebagai buku referensi terkait metode penelitian, khususnya metode fenomenologi. Buku ini disajikan denagn narasi pemahaman konsep kerja metode fenomenologi dalam lingkup tema riset selama covid 19. Cara kerja metode fenomenologi kualitatif disajikan dengan detail, dilengakapi dengan kertas kerja yang jelas beserta contoh menyajikan riset fenomenologi.
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Objetivo: Dada a recorrência de problemas ligados à tomada de nota durante as entrevistas e à análise preliminar de dados ao longo da coleta destes, o presente editorial visa a explorar a literatura e nossa experiência dando mais evidência a esses problemas e sugerindo caminhos para superá-los. Métodos: Revisão da literatura e uso de nossas próprias experiências, de modo fundamentado e com exemplos, em argumentações, explicações e recomendações úteis no aperfeiçoamento de pesquisas. Originalidade/relevância: O editorial detalha justificativas e modos de se tomar notas durante entrevistas semi-estruturadas, algo geralmente negligenciado até mesmo nas publicações sobre entrevistas, mas necessário para dar mais qualidade, profundidade e potencial de contribuição a elas. Também trata da análise de dados entre as entrevistas, tema ainda carente de atenção, somada às anotações como modo de se avançar com resultados e definir como continuar as entrevistas. Contribuições: Trazemos numerosas referências bibliográficas sobre entrevistas úteis para (futuros) pesquisadores. Fazemos a caracterização da realização e recomendações sobre entrevistas semi-estruturadas, assim como quanto à tomada de notas e à análise de dados ao longo das entrevistas para se acessar o melhor do potencial dos informantes, entrevistas, dados e resultados.
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This article examines elements of the maternity culture among the Kabardians in contemporary society. It analyzes diverse cases, including older respondents’ accounts of traditional practices and younger women’s innovative experiences regarding this subject. The study incorporates the author’s field materials collected over several years from villages and towns in Kabardino-Balkaria. The selected evidence includes ethnographic information about previously hidden aspects of private female life, specifically pregnancy, childbirth, and the early infancy. Employing participant observation and a phenomenological approach, this research gives voice to women, acknowledging their subjectivity and allowing them to express deeper aspects of consciousness. While existing literature primarily focuses on general attitudes towards young mothers and first-year rituals, this study addresses the research gap by exploring previously neglected aspects of the natal cycle in scientific discourse. It provides a rich ethnographic description of women’s attitudes towards pregnancy and childbirth, including their expectations, disappointments, anxieties, and hopes. The study identifies elements of traditional rural obstetric practices, arguing that modern society exhibits two concurrent processes: the erosion of traditional attitudes in maternity culture and the preservation of some traditional elements. Both the consistencies of everyday culture and their temporal variations are explored.
Chapter
This chapter offers an introduction to the book by situating the study in the wider debates in sociology and peace and conflict studies and discussing the study’s contributions to the literature. Through sociological research, this book explores motherhood as a social role that buttresses peace processes through the voices of women who have engaged in childrearing during and after the Northern Ireland conflict, euphemistically called ‘the Troubles’. The study draws on narratives collected through life history and focus group interviews conducted in areas that bore the brunt of the conflict, involving 55 participants in total. This chapter comprises four parts. First, it begins by briefly discussing the literature on motherhood in conflict-affected societies and elucidating why foregrounding motherhood by listening to women’s voices from a sociological viewpoint is required in the field. Second, it introduces the background of the research areas and provides sociological definitions of the key terms used in the book: everyday life, risk, motherhood and peacebuilding. Third, it will elaborate on the methodology and the ethical considerations pertaining to this study. Fourth, it concludes by mapping out the following chapters in this book.
Chapter
Discussions of singleness contain images of pathological loneliness and stigmas of unbound individualism. As such, they reflect residual ambivalences surrounding the (gendered) consequences of urbanization and globalization. But do such portrayals really capture the subjectivities and lived experiences of single women in cities? Drawing on fieldwork among middle-class single women in Delhi, this essay argues that singleness can rather signify an engagement with different conditions of interdependency. The essay takes the somewhat unusual track of reflecting back on the intersubjective nature of anthropological fieldwork to offer glimpses into the different kinds of sociality that characterized both the lifeworlds of single women and the research process itself. In doing so, it is structured in three parts: The first examines notions of urban alienation in relation to urbanization, arguing that they are limited in what they can tell us about the emplaced social dynamics of urban life. The second part presents some research findings on the subjectivity of female singleness, highlighting different relationalities—to others and the city. The final part confronts the practice of fieldwork itself, including an attempt to think through the implications of friendships to remind researchers of our own multiple dependencies and accountabilities.
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Ethnographic research differs from other types of research by literally being an embodied experience. The essential part of ethnographic research is observation and participation, including listening and asking questions about the lives of people, their experiences, and the meanings they give to their experiences and lives. Establishing relationships in the field can often result in an ethical challenge, related to this relationship and to personal boundaries, as well as to the problem of binding after the ethnographer leaves the terrain. If the subject of research requires a thorough / deep sensitivity, the ethnographer finds themselves on thin ice. The researcher can be emotionally influenced by what they do, by the places they find themselves in, and by the answers they receive. In this article, I submit my own methodological reflection on my research on the perception of death in contemporary Mexico City. I focus on the ways in which emotions and empathy can influence the relationship between the researcher and the informant. An important part of the article is the reflection of the overwhelming emotions experienced, and the actions that must be observed for coping with mental pressure.
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This research arose from a moment when one of the author’s interviewees said, “Wait, where was I?” Through 60–90 minutes, in-depth phone interviews, shared highly detailed accounts of their personal stories of entering underemployment in South Korea. However, the first six interviewees talked about many different topics during their interviews, and confused the chronological sequences of multiple episodes. The interviewer recognized these instances as emergent chaotic moments, so she decided to incorporate various methods into her interviews. Among the many elicitation strategies that can be employed in qualitative interviewing, the author applied timeline elicitation to more accurately document their life events. Timeline elicitation is useful for extracting narratives of individual journeys and delineating the meaning of specific events. This technique proved the most effective strategy for minimizing confusions and successfully completing the interviews. This study used comparative analysis to assess the transcripts of two different groups (with/without applying timeline drawing elicitation), and presents findings showing their different reactions to dealing with the transition of time. This study demonstrated the potential of visual timeline approaches to reflect and illustrate the complexity of women participants’ experiences of underemployment. Moreover, the efficacy of this timeline drawing elicitation method will be critically discussed, along with its limitations within the context of innovative qualitative methodologies.
Chapter
This chapter explores the role of agency within the “narratives of good wifeliness” presented by women who migrated by partner visa to Australia. Through an analysis of four in-depth case studies, we highlight how these women use their narratives agentically to demonstrate their legal and social deservingness to remain in Australia. These narratives, we contend, do not occur in isolation but are powerfully shaped by migration law, engaging with understandings of the “genuine,” and thus “good,” wife. While understandings of agency usually center around ideas of direct and explicit resistance to external systems or pressures, we find that apparent compliance with ideas of good wifeliness can be re-signified by the women, making it another form of agency. Compliance and resistance thus appear in the women’s narratives as agentic in form, revealing that, even within situations of perceivably full or absolute compliance, there is always room for resistance to emerge.
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Introduction Research with young people (YP) is ethically challenging and bound in a complex maze of issues relating to power, voice and representation. Such sensitivities mean that the challenges raised in researching marginalised YP are often hard to navigate. This paper reports on research carried out with YP to explore links between mental health, school exclusion and involvement in criminal gangs. It aims to provide a practical guide to negotiating some of the methodological and ethical challenges experienced. Method In‐depth interviews conducted with 28 YP (aged 14–24 years) who were gang involved or seen to be at risk of gang involvement. Research was conducted in youth clubs, alternative provision and youth justice settings. Results: Observations/Reflections We reflect on how navigating ethics can create barriers to involving YP as primary informants in research. We consider why it is important to overcome these hurdles and how public engagement work with recognised gatekeepers and the use of creative interview methods can facilitate meaningful encounters, where YP feel able to share valuable insights into their lives. Conclusion Alongside a number of specific learning points, the paper reflects on theories behind research with YP, including the need for recognition of power imbalances and reflexivity. It concludes with thoughts on the practical realities of achieving meaningful participation or an ‘authentic voice’ with marginalised groups and the importance of this in informing policy and practice. Patient or Public Contribution The focus of this work was to collect experiences of YP who are recognised as gang‐involved or at risk of being so, with a view to informing health and education policies. The scoping study for the project involved extensive public engagement work with YP exploring and trialling suitable methods of accessing, recruiting and ultimately interviewing this target group. This is central to the discussion within the body of the paper.
Article
The popularity of global dating platforms has affected the dating behavior of urban daters, including those who live in Jakarta. Compared to match-seeking via print media decades ago, there are some changes in the way people present themselves and express their sexuality on dating platforms. On one of the dating platforms, OKCupid, some Jakarta users boldly stated their intention of looking for a hookup or non-heterosexual partner. This creates a problem in Indonesia, where most societies consider sexual acts and expressions such as premarital sex and non-heterosexual relationship as taboos. In this research, we examine the practice of OKCupid use by adult online daters in Jakarta, specifically about how they present themselves to express their diverse sexualities through OKCupid unique features. We argue that OKCupid features help its users to disclose themselves in a more specific manner, and thus facilitate them to find people with a shared interest and preferred gender or sexual orientation. Furthermore, in our informants' self-presentations, we found some strategies they utilized to preserve their privacy, avoid the consequences of normativity that is perpetuated from offline context, or target certain users as their potential matches. These strategies are dependent upon sociocultural dynamics as well as facilities developed by OKCupid.
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