Feminist-Informed Research Ethics Methodology in

International RelationsBy Chabeeitha ParameswaranEDRD 6000University of Guelph

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

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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.

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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?”

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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 Internation

al 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).

Knowledge Gap in International Relations

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Feminist-Informed Research

Ethic Method

Oakley’s Interviewing Method

Traditional Interviewing Method

Feminist Internation

al Relations

Feminist Theory

International

Relations

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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)”

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.  

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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 Researc

hFeminist Theory

Feminist Informed

-Research

Ethics

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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