Engagement in qualitative research incorporating feminist principles means that researchers must view themselves within the research boundaries and actively render transparent their own research experiences. This researcher explored motherhood with 50 adoptive mothers across Queensland, Australia. This article describes in detail her motivation for undertaking the study and some of her personal thoughts about, and experiences with, qualitative, feminist, women-centered research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Australian Institute of Health & Welfare . (1998). Adoption Australia 1996-97. Canberra: Author.
2.
Belenky, M. F. , Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing: The development of self, voice and mind. New York: Basic Books.
3.
Bottomley, B. (1978). Words, deeds and postgraduate research. In C. Bell & S. Encel (Eds.), Inside the whale: Ten personal accounts of social research (pp. 216-237). Rushcutters Bay, Australia: Pergamon.
4.
Cotterill, P. (1992). Interviewing women: Issues of friendship, vulnerability and power. Women’s Studies International Forum, 15(5/6), 593-606.
5.
Cummerton, J. (1986). A feminist perspective on research: What does it help us to see? In N. Van Der Bergh & L. Cooper (Eds.), Feminist visions for social work (pp. 81-101). Silver Springs, MD: National Association of Social Workers.
6.
Denzin, N. (1989). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
7.
Edwards, R. (1993). An education in interviewing. Placing the researcher and the research. In C. Renzetti & R. Lee (Eds.), Researching sensitive topics (pp. 181-196). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
8.
Finch, J. (1984). It’s great to have someone to talk to: The ethics and politics of interviewing women. In C. Bell & H. Roberts (Eds.), Social research: Politics, problems and practice (pp. 70-87). London: Routledge.
9.
Gair, S. (1996). Adoption: A different road to mothering. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, James Cook University, Australia.
10.
Gair, S. (1999). Distress and depression in new motherhood: Research with adoptive mothers highlights important contributing factors. Child and Family Social Work, 4(1), 55-66.
11.
Hammersley, M. , & Atkinson, P. (1983). Ethnography: Principles in practice. London: Tavistock.
12.
Hyde, C. (1994). Reflections on a journey: A research story. In C. Riessman (Ed.), Qualitative studies in social work research (pp. 169-189). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
Janesick, V. (1998). Stretching exercises for qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
Lather, P. (1993, February). The politics and ethics of feminist research: Researching the lives of women with HIV/AIDS. Paper presented to the Ethnography in Education Research Forum, Philadelphia, PA.
15.
Marshall, J. (1986). Exploring the experiences of women managers: Towards rigor in qualitative method. In S. Wilkinson (Ed.), Feminist social psychology: Developing theory and practice (pp. 193-209). Philadelphia: Open University Press.
16.
Mason, J. (1996). Qualitative researching. London: Sage.
17.
Oakley, A. (1974). The sociology of housework. Oxford, UK: Martin Robertson.
18.
Oakley, A. (1981). Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms. In H. Roberts (Ed.), Doing feminist research (pp. 30-61). London: Routledge.
19.
O’Connor, I. , Wilson, J., & Setterlund, D. (1998). Social work and welfare practice (2nd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Longman.
20.
Padgett, D. (1998). Qualitative methods in social work research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
21.
Reinhartz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Ristock, J. , & Pennell, J. (1996). Community research as empowerment: Feminist links, postmodern interruptions. Toronto, Canada: Oxford University Press.
23.
Rose, K. , & Webb, C. (1998). Analysing qualitative data: Maintaining rigor in a qualitative study. Qualitative Health Research, 8(4), 556-562.
24.
Shawyer, J. (1979). Death by adoption. Auckland, New Zealand: Cicada.
25.
Stanley, L. , & Wise, S. (1983). Back into the personal or: Our attempt to construct feminist research. In G. Bowles & R. D. Klein (Eds.), Theories of women’s studies (pp. 192-209). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
26.
Strauss, A. , & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
27.
Sword, W. (1999). Accounting for presence of self: Reflections on doing qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 9(2), 270-278.
28.
Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales from the field: On writing ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
29.
Walker, R. (Ed.). (1985). Applied qualitative research. Aldershot, England: Gower.
30.
Wilkinson, S. (Ed.). (1986). Feminist social psychology: Developing theory and practice. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
31.
Winkler, R. , & Van Keppel, M. (1984). Relinquishing mothers in adoption: Their long term adjustment (Monograph No. 3). Melbourne, Australia: Institute of Family Studies.
