‘Claims and Disclaimers: Knowledge, Reflexivity and Representation in Feminist Research’

Abstract

In this article I consider issues of knowledge, reflexivity and representation in feminist research. Using my feminist sociological doctoral research as an example I add to debate by feminist researchers and others concerned with epistemological authority. After setting the research scene and outlining what I feel I did and did not achieve both substantively and epistemologically I consider some of the contradictions and tensions in feminist research through a consideration of reflexivity and representation. Throughout I consider issues of auto/biography.

Disability, embodiment and the meaning of the home

“…Most of the respondents, from their standpoint, had thought through the issues relating to design, disability and domesticity and were able to articulate different ways in which they felt society should change. In a modest way, the transcripts are able to 'give voice' to the politicised knowledge of the respondents (see Letherby, 2002 andMillen, 1997 for an outline of these issues).…”

Footprints in the Field: Researcher Identity in Social Research

“…In exploring the methodological intricacies of research, the epistemological and ontological positioning of researchers, or put simply our beliefs on how knowledge is produced (Dumitrica 2010;Goodley et al 2004;Sikes 2004) often guide method/ological choices. It has been stated that a sound consideration of methodology must interrogate the role the researcher plays within the research (Ellis and Berger 2001;Eppley 2006;Liamputtong 2007;Letherby 2002). The research process begins with a detailed analysis of the research question(s) or issue(s).…”

“…For example, common within the debate surrounding methods is a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative and quantitative paradigms including debate surrounding the sorts of substantive research questions that each is best equipped to answer (Alise 2010;Brannen 2009;Bryman 2008;Denzin 2010;Letherby 2002;Letherby 2003). In actuality, the consideration of the methodology would occur immediately after the establishment of the research question(s)/issue and would therefore precede the choice regarding methods.…”

“…The distinction between the two is essentially that the methods of a research project refer to the way the researcher obtains information, or the tools s/he chooses to employ and the methodology refers to why a researcher makes a specific choice. The methodology refers to a whole plethora of issues concerning intricacies of carrying out research (Dumitrica 2010;Ellis and Berger 2001;Goodley et al 2004;Letherby 2002;Liamputtong 2007;Sikes 2004). …”

“…A sophisticated interrogation of the construction of knowledge is something that has historically been considered to be worthy of greater attention within feminist research (Dumitrica 2010;Letherby 2002;Liamputtong 2007;Sikes 2004). Indeed, the very practice of 'doing feminist research' has been said to 'highlight the problems in taking an epistemological position' (Letherby 2002: 4.3) either within a setting that is familiar or one that may be less so.…”