'Me' as the research instrument: Subject positions, feminist values and multiple 'mes'
Teresa Moore
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education, Central Queensland University, Australia
PP: 31 - 41
Abstract
Researchers are an integral part of the research process; for many qualitative researchers they become the research instrument. Through being that research instrument the researcher becomes intimately involved with the participants, their stories and their lives. Data are processed through the researcher, who makes decisions about what is regarded as data, how those data are collected and finally how the data are used. With this in mind the feminist researcher wears many hats and assumes many roles, in effect becoming what I term multiple 'mes'. This term refers to the multiple subject positions that the researcher occupies.
Therefore in this paper I explore the researcher as a research instrument from a feminist poststructural positioning and what this meant for designing data collection methods in my Doctor of Philosophy thesis. This exploration is done through the epistemological and ontological positioning of the feminist researcher and examines the corresponding methodological framework. From this framework many 'mes' or other subject positions are constructed through the research journey. I argue that it is through the negotiation of multiple 'mes' that the researcher demonstrates both personal values and institutional expectations. This paper concludes by elaborating the notion of doing no harm in the 'field' and reconciling feminist values.
Keywords
research instrument, feminist researcher, qualitative research
References
Allen, M., & Castleman, T. (1995) Gender privilege in higher education: Examining its dimensions and dynamics. Paper presented at the 'Women, Culture and Universities: A Chilly Climate?' conference, University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, NSW.
Aveling, N. (2002) 'Having it all' and the discourse of equal opportunity: Reflections on choices and changing perceptions. Gender and Education, 14(3), 265-280.
Bacchi, C. (1990) Same difference: Feminism and sexual difference. Sydney, NSW: Allen and Unwin.
Bacchi, C. (2001) Managing equity: Mainstreaming and 'diversity' in Australian universities. In A. Brooks & A. Mackinnon (Eds.), Gender and the restructured university. Buckingham, UK: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
Beechey, V. (1987) Unequal work. London: Verco.
Billet, S., & Somerville, M. (2004) Transformations at work: Identity and learning. Studies in Continuing Education, 26(2), 309-326.
Bloom, L. (1998) Under the sign of hope: Feminist methodology and narrative interpretation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Braidotti, R. (1994) Nomadic subjects. New York: Columbia University Press.
Bulbeck, C. (1998) Re-orientating western feminisms: Women's diversity in a postcolonial world. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Burton, C. (1997) Gender equity in Australian university staffing (Evaluations and Investigations program no. 97/18) Canberra, ACT: Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
Currie, J., Thiele, B., & Harris, P. (2002) Gendered universities in globalised economies: Power, careers, and sacrifices. Lanham: Lexington Books.
DeVault, M. L. (1996) Talking back to sociology: Distinctive contributions of feminist methodology. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 29-50.
Edley, N. (2001) Analysing masculinity: Interpretative repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor & S. Yates (Eds.), Discourse as data: A guide for analysis (pp. 189-228) London: Sage Publications.
Gatens, M. (1998) Institutions, embodiment and sexual difference. In M. A. Gatens (Ed.), Gender and institutions: Welfare, work and citizenship (pp. 1-15) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A. (1992) Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. White Plains: Longman.
Grosz, E. (1990) Inscriptions and body maps: Representations and the corporeal. In T. Threadgold & A. Cranny-Francis (Eds.), Feminine, masculine and representation (pp. 62-74) Sydney, NSW: Allen and Unwin.
James, B. (1986) Taking gender into account: Feminist and sociological issues in social research. New Zealand Sociology, 1(1), 18-32.
Lafferty, G., & Fleming, J. (2000) The re-structuring of academic work in Australia: Power, management and gender. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 21(2), 257-267.
Lather, P. (1986) Research as praxis. Harvard Educational Review, 56(3), 257-277.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.
Luke, C. (1994) Women in the academy: The politics of speech and silence. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 15(2), 211-230.
Maguire, P. (1996) Considering more feminist participatory research: What's congruency got to do with it? Qualitative Inquiry, 2(1), 106-118.
McInnis, C. (2000) Towards new balance or new divides? The changing roles of academics in Australia. In M. Tight (Ed.), Academic work and life: What it is to be an academic, and how this is changing (vol. 1) (pp. 117-145) Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
Moore, T. (2004a) (En-)gendering risk: Reflecting on risks and dilemmas when researching academic women in a hostile terrain. In P. N. Coombes, M. J. M. Danaher & P. A. Danaher (Eds.), Strategic uncertainties: Ethics, politics and risk in contemporary educational research. Flaxton, Qld: Post Pressed.
Moore, T. (2004b) Researching at a regional university: Doing the public good or institutional expectations? Paper presented at the annual conference of the Australian Association for Educational Research, Auckland, New Zealand.
Moore, T. (2005) The changing academic workplace: Public and private transformations. Journal of Australian Studies, New Talents 2005(84), 73-84.
Oakley, A. (1990) Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms. In H. Roberts (Ed.), Doing feminist research (6th ed.) (pp. 30-61) London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Olesen, V. (1994) Feminisms and models of qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 158-174) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Probert, B. (2002) 'Grateful slaves' or 'self-made women': A matter of choice or policy. Australian Feminist Studies, 17(37), 7-17.
Probert, B., & Wilson, B. W. (1993) Gendered work. In B. Probert & B. W. Wilson (Eds.), Pink collar blues: Work, gender and technology (pp. 1-19) Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press.
Punch, M. (1994) Politics and ethics in qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 83-97) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Rifkin, J. (1996) The end of work: The decline of the global labour force and the dawn of the post-market era. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Rowan, L. O. (1998) Cabbages grow on the tundra yet the moose feeds by night: Feminism, universities and other cultural mysteries. In L. O. Rowan & M. T. Brennan (Eds.), Cultural transformation: Essays in culture and change (pp. 13- 25) Rockhampton, Qld: Central Queensland University Press.
Skelton, C. (2004) Gender, career and 'individualisation in the audit university'. Research in Education, 72, 87-102.
Skelton, C. (2005) The 'self-interested' woman academic: A consideration of Beck's model of the 'individualised individual'. British Journal of the Sociology of Education, 26(1), 5-16.
Suchman, L. A. (1987) Plans and situated actions: The problematic of human/machine communication. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Wajcman, J. (1998) Managing like a man: Women and men in corporate management. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Willis, E. (1995) Sociological quest: An introduction to study of social life (2nd ed.) St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin.
Wise, S. (1997) What are feminist academics for? In L. Stanley (Ed.), Knowing feminisms: On academic borders and territories and tribes (pp 120-131) London: Sage.
Yeatman, A. (1993) The gendered management of equity-orientated change in higher education. In D. Baker & M. Fogarty (Eds.), A gendered culture: Educational management in the nineties (pp. 14-27) St Albans, Vic: Victoria University of Technology.
Zajdow, G. (1995) Women and work: Current issues and debates. Geelong, Vic: Deakin University Press.
eContent Home
