This accessible text on social research methodology teaches students of sociology and related disciplines how standard methods can be adapted toward critical ends. The second edition has been updated throughout to incorporate the latest critical scholarship, enhanced discussion of qualitative methods, new material on global issues, sex/sexuality/gender, new discussion of intersectionality, how social media can shape research, and more.
Author Joey Sprague describes and evaluates a wide array of methodological options-from quantitative to qualitative-and explores the links between epistemology and methodology. She proposes a program to overcome bias in standard methodologies and offers practical suggestions that can be used effectively by all progressive researchers. The second edition of Feminist Methodology for Critical Researchers is of value to scholars across disciplines and an essential text or supplement for methods classes.
1.The Field of Vision
Why Feminists?
Who Am I?
What Is Methodology?
What's Keeping Sociology from Its Promise?
Knowing Choices
2.Seeing through Science: Epistemologies
Positivism: Do the Facts Speak for Themselves?
Radical Social Constructionism: Is Knowledge Illusion?
Critical Realism
Standpoint Theory
Critical Realism or Standpoint Theory?
Critically Seeking Reality
3.Authority and Power
Power and Authority, Ideology and Knowledge
The Subjectivist (MIS)Interpretation of Standpoint Epistemology
Social Standpoint Epistemology
4.How Feminists Count: Critical Strategies for Quantitative Methods
Problems with Standard Quantitative Methodology
How Feminists Use Quantitative Methods
Conclusion
5.Qualitative Shifts: Feminist Strategies in Field Research and Interviewing
Feminist Critiques of Qualitative Methodology
Increasing the Researcher/Researched Connection
Compensating for the Researcher's Standpoint
Constructing Collaborations
Conclusion
6.Whose Questions? Whose Answers?
Asking Critical Questions
To Whom Are We Providing Answers?
7.Changing Sociology/ Changing the World
Changing Research
Changing Our Discipline
Changing Ourselves
Bibliography
