Feminist Methodologies for Critical Researchers: Bridging Differences

by Joey Sprague

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442218727
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/17/2016
Series:	Gender Lens
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joey Sprague is professor of sociology at the University of Kansas and president and executive officer of Sociologists for Women in Society. An award-winning teacher and nationally respected scholar, she is also an editor for Rowman & Littlefield’s Gender Lens Series.

Table of Contents

The Field of VisionWhy Feminists?
Who Am I?
What Is Methodology?
What’s Keeping Sociology from Its Promise?
Knowing Choices
Seeing through Science: EpistemologiesPositivism: Do the Facts Speak for Themselves?
Radical Social Constructionism: Is Knowledge Illusion?
Critical Realism
Standpoint Theory
Critical Realism or Standpoint Theory?
Critically Seeking Reality
Authority and PowerPower and Authority, Ideology and Knowledge
The Subjectivist (MIS)Interpretation of Standpoint Epistemology
Social Standpoint Epistemology
How Feminists Count: Critical Strategies for Quantitative MethodsProblems with Standard Quantitative Methodology
How Feminists Use Quantitative Methods
Conclusion
Qualitative Shifts: Feminist Strategies in Field Research and InterviewingFeminist Critiques of Qualitative Methodology
Increasing the Researcher/Researched Connection
Compensating for the Researcher’s Standpoint
Constructing Collaborations
Conclusion
Whose Questions? Whose Answers? Asking Critical Questions
To Whom Are We Providing Answers?
Changing Sociology/ Changing the WorldChanging Research
Changing Our Discipline
Changing Ourselves
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Previous edition praise: Sprague presents her work in a scholarly manner that is accessible to all readers, regardless of their level of competence in feminist methodologies. Her approach allows readers to think critically about feminist issues and the ways they can contribute to the field in the future.. . As mentioned, it presents a valuable framework for any researcher to use in community-based research.

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research

Previous edition praise: Sprague writes exceptionally clearly and expresses difficult issues in language that undergraduates can easily grasp. At the same time, her ideas are sufficiently sophisticated that readers who are well read in feminist research in sociology also have a great deal to gain from reading this book.

Sociologists For Women In Society

Previous edition praise: Sprague writes exceptionally clearly and expresses difficult issues in language that undergraduates can easily grasp. At the same time, her ideas are sufficiently sophisticated that readers who are well read in feminist research in sociology also have a great deal to gain from reading this book.. . Sprague has given us a vision of standpoint methodology that has come of age.

Gender & Society

Joey Sprague is a major theorist in the field of feminist methodologies and theory, and her work is very accessible to students. The scope of Feminist Methodologies is great for framing why feminist methodologies and feminist theory are necessary in scholarship.

Elizabeth Myers

This book is a wonderful contribution to the field of feminist methodologies. Sprague does an excellent job of making readers aware of the differences among human populations along the lines of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Most importantly, this text forces us to think about how marginalized communities have been treated in knowledge production, and how these differences construct the relationship between the researcher and the researched.

Joyce M. Barry

The first edition of Joey Sprague’s book has always been required reading in graduate courses I teach. There simply is no other book like it. The second edition improves on an already exceptional book. This book is a must-read for any critical researcher and, more broadly, any social scientist. The issues of epistemology, methodology, and methods transcend feminist research and should be required reading for anyone concerned with how power and biases shape our understandings of how we build knowledge, as well as influence how we come to understand the world around us.

Tiffany Taylor

Feminist Methodologies is the best introductory book for teaching research. It’s clear, jargon-free, and manages to make complex ideas and concepts—many rooted in critical theory—accessible for graduate and undergraduate students. I have found this book to be both very useful and simple to understand.

Margo Okazawa-Rey

Joey Sprague is a major theorist in the field of feminist methodologies and theory, and her work is very accessible to students. The scope of Feminist Methodologies is great for framing why feminist methodologies and feminist theory are necessary in scholarship.” —Elizabeth Myers, Smith College

“This book is a wonderful contribution to the field of feminist methodologies. Sprague does an excellent job of making readers aware of the differences among human populations along the lines of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Most importantly, this text forces us to think about how marginalized communities have been treated in knowledge production, and how these differences construct the relationship between the researcher and the researched.” —Joyce M. Barry, Hamilton College

“Feminist Methodologies is the best introductory book for teaching research. It’s clear, jargon-free, and manages to make complex ideas and concepts—many rooted in critical theory—accessible for graduate and undergraduate students. I have found this book to be both very useful and simple to understand.” —Margo Okazawa-Rey, Fielding Graduate University

“The first edition of Joey Sprague’s book has always been required reading in graduate courses I teach. There simply is no other book like it. The second edition improves on an already exceptional book. This book is a must-read for any critical researcher and, more broadly, any social scientist. The issues of epistemology, methodology, and methods transcend feminist research and should be required reading for anyone concerned with how power and biases shape our understandings of how we build knowledge, as well as influence how we come to understand the world around us.” —Tiffany Taylor, Kent State University

“Previous edition praise: Sprague writes exceptionally clearly and expresses difficult issues in language that undergraduates can easily grasp. At the same time, her ideas are sufficiently sophisticated that readers who are well read in feminist research in sociology also have a great deal to gain from reading this book.” —Sociologists For Women In Society

“Previous edition praise: Sprague presents her work in a scholarly manner that is accessible to all readers, regardless of their level of competence in feminist methodologies. Her approach allows readers to think critically about feminist issues and the ways they can contribute to the field in the future. . . As mentioned, it presents a valuable framework for any researcher to use in community-based research.” —Sex Roles: A Journal of Research

“Previous edition praise: Sprague writes exceptionally clearly and expresses difficult issues in language that undergraduates can easily grasp. At the same time, her ideas are sufficiently sophisticated that readers who are well read in feminist research in sociology also have a great deal to gain from reading this book. . . Sprague has given us a vision of standpoint methodology that has come of age.” —Gender & Society

From the Publisher

This is the best book on feminist methodologies in sociology and the social sciences to come along in some time. Although the book is accessibly written and suitable for a text, it is never the less a sophisticated discussion why methodology matters and how it affects the impact of social science research on society. Sprague defends the social scientific project and then proceeds to show us how to engage in this project in a manner that embodies feminist values while producing first rate social scientific knowledge. Avoiding polemics, Sprague charts a clear, carefully reasoned argument that resists easy answers to questions such as the qualitative/ quantitative split, the issue of relativism, or of subjectivity. Instead, she offers a nuanced critique of both qualitative and quantitative methods and develops a carefully reasoned strategy for doing high quality, useful social research that also furthers fairness and justice in society.

Cecilia L. Ridgeway

Sprague writes exceptionally clearly and expresses difficult issues in language that undergraduates can easily grasp. At the same time, her ideas are sufficiently sophisticated that readers who are well read in feminist research in sociology also have a great deal to gain from reading this book.

Sociologists For Women In Society - Mary Jo Neitz

Seeing Through Gender is an excellent introduction to feminist methodology, with a clear and accessible treatment of epistemological issues, examples drawn from a wide range of actual studies, and an even-handed treatment of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Sprague has a forthright point of view and a lively feminist voice appropriate for students as well as more experienced researchers.

Marjorie DeVault

Joey Sprague has built a sturdy guide to understanding the linkages between epistemology, methodology, and method in the practice of social science. She makes clear that the production of science is not about formal method, so much as methods are about the social production and implicit standpoint of science in practice. Graduate students and practitioners in all of the social sciences, feminist and non-feminist alike, will profit from reading and discussing this book.

Donald Tomaskovic-Devey

Sprague presents her work in a scholarly manner that is accessible to all readers, regardless of their level of competence in feminist methodologies. Her approach allows readers to think critically about feminist issues and the ways they can contribute to the field in the future ... As mentioned, it presents a valuable framework for any reasearcher to use in community-based research.

Sex Roles