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Feminist informed research ethics methodology in international relations
- 1. Feminist-Informed Research Ethics Methodology in International Relations By Chabeeitha Parameswaran EDRD 6000 University of Guelph
- 2. AGENDA Introduction Ann Oakley’s “Interviewing Women: a Contradiction of terms?” Feminist International Relations: Knowledge Gaps The Feminist-Informed Research Ethics Methodology Application of the Feminist-Informed Research Ethic in International Relations Research Conclusion 2
- 3. INTRODUCTION Feminist Research: The study of women’s contributions, knowledge, or marginalization in various disciplines. It is often also viewed as criticism of women of various social science field and topics. Feminist Research encourages researchers both feminist and non-feminists alie, to go back to the theories of knowledge that are the center foundations of disciplines and question the legitimacy of its knowledge, research methods, and push its boundaries to acknowledge missing knowledge gaps. 3
- 4. 4 Textbook Methodology of Interviews Oakley’s proposed methodology 1) A one-way process 1) Two-way communication simulates a conversation a non- hierarchical openness and a relaxed environment. 2) Impersonal relationship between the interviewer and interviewee 2) The emotions of the interviewer cannot be controlled as the researcher cannot remove their “personhood.” The interviewer must submerge “into” the culture of those observed so as not to influence results or bias. 3) The nature of data be impersonal, statistical and thereby comparable. 3) Some personal input is required to provide validity of data e.g needs, desires etc. The premise of Ann Oakley’s “Interviewing Women: a Contradiction of terms?” is to identify the limitations of traditional interviewing methodology in the context of feminist research. Three key issues in the traditional methodology of interviews in its application in feminist research are mentioned in the article: Ann Oakley’s “Interviewing Women: a Contradiction of terms?”
- 5. 5 Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition: “Definition of international relations: A branch of political science concerned with relations between nations and primarily with foreign policies”(Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2017). Key International Relations concepts include war, militarism and security, sovereignty and the state, and globalization” (Ackerly and True, 2008). Feminist International Relations Feminist International Relations Feminist Theory International Relations Similar to Oakley’s criticism of social science many studies have identified female knowledge gaps in international relations due a predominantly “male-stream” worldview of it. The emergence of Feminist International Relations was thus born (Youngs, 2004).
- 6. Knowledge Gap in International Relations 6 Feminist- Informed Research Ethic Method Oakley’s Interviewing Method Traditional Interviewing Method Feminist International Relations Feminist Theory International Relations
- 7. 7 The Feminist Informed-Research Ethic Methodology The key to feminist-informed research is “the defining a research question and the theory and conceptualization process. (Ackerly, 2008, p.700)”
- 8. Example of Feminist-Informed Ethics in International Relations Example: Maria Stern’s research of Mayan women in the context of International Relations. Power of Epistemology: There were no theories for her to drawback from, or the theories that did exist did reflect elites and she was interviewing non-elites. In this case, she analyzed the epistemology of the discipline critiquing the discipline’s structure of how it gained knowledge. Attentiveness to Boundaries: Provided a voice for marginalized Mayan women pushing boundaries of International Relations and feminism in doing so. The women felt a low sense of security due to their politically low-status in the community and thus influenced their narratives as well as how they were considered and perceived politically. Attentiveness to Relationships: The Mayan’s women’s audience being a researcher may have altered the information they divulged as it had political implications. As Mayan women never had a voice in the field, Stern was a co-creator to the narrative as it was a new perspective to the field. Situatedness of the Researcher: Stern’s personal position as a women, scholar, researcher all influenced the portrayal of data and receipt of it by multiple audiences. 8
- 9. 9 Conclusion “Feminist-informed research ethic is appropriate for all social sciences inquiry because it makes visible the power of research epistemology to structure what we know” (Ackelery and True, 2008, p 704). Apply Feminist-Informed Research Ethic to Your Research: Power of Epistemology: Analyze the current epistemology used in the discipline as Ann Oakley did to Textbook Interviewing Methods. Attentiveness to Boundaries: Identify marginalized groups, and analyze why they are in that position in relation to political status, societal or community views of their roles and identity. Attentiveness to Relationships: Understand that you are now a co-creator of the data as your informants once may have no voice or position in the field of study. Identify ways you may be influencing the data collected or shared by your relationship with the informant or interviewee. Situatedness of the Researcher: Identify your roles as a person, as a researcher, as a scholar and any bias you may be causing or creating in your portrayal of the data through questions posed and your research’s reception by multiple audiences. Your Research Feminist Theory Feminist Informed- Research Ethics
- 10. 10 REFERENCES Ackerly, B. r., & T rue, J. a. (2008). Reflexivity in practice: Power and ethics in feminist research on international relations. International Studies Review, 10(4), 693-707. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2008.00826.x Dick, B. (1999) The validity chain [On line]. Available at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/validchain.html International relations. (n.d.). Retrieved March 6, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/international relations Oakley A (1981) Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms? In: Roberts H (ed.) Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 30–61. Sjoberg, L. (2008). The norm of tradition: Gender subordination and women's exclusion in international relations. Politics & Gender, 4(1), 173-180. doi:10.1017/S1743923X08000093 May, Tim. 2001. Chapter 1: Perspectives on Research In. Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process. Youngs, G. (2004). Feminist international relations: A contradiction in terms? or: Why women and gender are essential to understanding the world ‘we’ live in*. International Affairs, 80(1), 75-87. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00367.x
Editor's Notes
- Source: May, Tim. 2001. Chapter 1: Perspectives on Research In. Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process.
- The main point is that the traditional view of interviewing limits the required personal subjective nature of feminist research in which its sole purpose is to provide a female perspective of a variety of topics. In the traditional methodology, the interviewer is not to answer questions posed by the interviewees for fear of forming a bias of the research results. In addition, the interviewer must still build rapport, but only enough to manipulate interviewees into divulging only the necessary information required for the research. Finally, the data obtained is not to be personalized, but rather more quantitative in nature to be comparable to other data obtained through other interviews. Ann Oakley suggests instead a new feminist research paradigm for women interviewing women: 1) Two-way communication simulates a conversation and a more equal and non-hierarchical openness as well as a relaxed environment. Interviewing therefore needs to be two-way process to develop rapport (Oakley,1981). The Validity Chain by Dick, B (1999). suggests that when relying on your informant’s account during an interview you may encounter various issues, a few may include: misinterpretations of narratives, portions of events the informant vaguely remembers or are withholding. In order to counteract these issues, the rapport built between the interviewer and interviewee is important and required to help fill in the gaps through enhancing questions that bring to light things the interviewee may have forgotten to mention, left out or could not initially recollect. By building rapport you open the doors to asking more probing questions, building a relationship with understanding and mutual trust and respect. 2) Creating a personal relationship increases the range of the information shared and the quality of it. The openness created from personal involvement develops a mutual respect and trust. To develop the confidence and trust of the interviewee the researcher must show empathy, and be friendly. The drawback here is that emotions of the interviewer cannot be controlled as the researcher cannot remove their “personhood,” thereby unthinkingly creates some bias. One way to try and counter this is to have the interviewer truly submerge “into” the culture of those observed and their frame of thought and pose questions in accordance so as not to influence results or bias (Ackerly & True, 2008). 3) Some personal subjective input by the interviewee is required to provide validity of some data e.g their needs, desires etc. When such data is collected, personality and subjectivity serves the purpose and nature of the study. The need to establish a relationship is necessary as it could impact the quality and quantity of information obtained. Source: Oakley A (1981) Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms? In: Roberts H (ed.) Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 30–61.
- International relations is currently significantly lacking the presence of female contributions and female perspectives similar to Oakley’s criticism of social science’s textbook Interviewing methods. Many studies have identified knowledge gaps in internal relations and the “male-stream” worldview of it (Youngs, 2004). This created a feminist branch called Feminist International Relations. Ackerly and True (2008). suggests feminist-informed research ethic methodology as a solution to the need to fill in the missing gaps and the absence of women in international relations. This is especially true in other disciplines as well in which there maybe limited “elite” people to interviewee for a study’s content, but instead many non-elite members of society who can fill the knowledge gap. Despite their position in society, in terms of status, these interviewees shed light on various topics through their experience and knowledge that is often not exposed due its contents being political nature or political power dynamics silencing them. The feminist-informed research ethic is thus suggested to be applied to all research, feminist of not, to prevent skewed views and unwarranted biases within research designs, data collection and methodological frameworks within disciplines themselves.
- Further adding to Ann Oakley’s revelation of the need for new epistemological methods to disciplines, Ackerley and True (2008) expressed the need for a research methodology in International Relations that helps push the boundaries of disciplines further and helps deal with the research ethics that are encountered in such research. Sjoberg (2008). conducted a survey called “Women in International Relations” which confirmed that women are underrepresented in international relations and that the marginalization only grows higher when considering the rankings of professions. The following are knowledge gaps identified in traditional International Relations: 1) The state and market, both theoretically and practically speaking are saturated with masculine biased assumptions and structures. 2) International relations is male-dominated and ignore contributions by women to political and economic life. 3) The lack of attention to the analytical category of gender obscures the inter-related social construction of male and female identities and roles (Youngs, 2004). Ackerly and True (2008). propose that to solve these knowledge gaps attention needs to be paid to boundaries created within disciplines themselves, questions posed in interviews, choice of informants and the decision-making process in which they are chosen all the way to when they are interviewed and how they occur, thereby skewing the data themselves.
- The key to feminist-informed research is “defining a research question and the theory and conceptualization process. (Ackerly, 2008, p.700)” The key is identifying a research question that enlightens the field of research on contentious issues without creating any political issues ripples for vulnerable interviewees along the way (Ackerly, 2008). By reflecting on our own personal influences (our roles as a researcher, our gender, our belief systems etc.) on our research we can better correct the biases we emit (Ackerly, 2008). Ackerley and True (2008). suggest four areas that attention needs to be paid to and strategies to help alleviate. The four areas include: criticizing epistemological theories of knowledge, disciplinary boundaries that limit research, analyze the human relations with the topic or informant interviews and finally submerging ourselves in the world studied so as not to influence the research’s perception. Ackerley and True (2008). agrees with Ann Oakley in the sense that they to feel not treating an interviewee as an equal presents a power dynamic that limits research, and that if pushing the boundary is necessary, that it should be done so with a methodology so as not to take away the validity of the research itself. Ackerley and True (2008). also identifies that the power dynamics within organizations or individuals in relation to each other may also influence the research and attention needs to be paid to that. This helps eliminate the silence of marginalized groups, prevents bias, and pushes boundaries.
- Source: Ackerly, B. r., & T rue, J. a. (2008). Reflexivity in practice: Power and ethics in feminist research on international relations. International Studies Review, 10(4), 693-707. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2008.00826.x
- Feminist-informed research ethic is appropriate for all social sciences inquiry because it makes visible the power of research epistemology to structure what we know” (Ackelery and True, 2008, p 704). It is more so importantly used in its application in the field of International Relations in this presentation as power is at the center of its subject. The key take away is that feminist research helps frame a research question or conceptualization of a subject matter in any discipline. It does this by enriching and encouraging the researcher to think outside the box and reflect on our own methods and execution of research methods through the research process. In addition Feminist research examines the data chosen, critiques the method in which the collection of data occurs, analyzes frameworks in disciplines, analyzes methods to use in research, and reflects upon the influence portrayal of data has on multiple audiences. Source: Ackerly, B. r., & T rue, J. a. (2008). Reflexivity in practice: Power and ethics in feminist research on international relations. International Studies Review, 10(4), 693-707. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2008.00826.x