WMNST
602 & MALAS
600C
Methods
of Inquiry
in Women’s Studies
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Professor Esther Rothblum erothblu@mail.sdsu.edu
Office
Hours: Wed 9:30-11:30 a.m.
This course will familiarize
students with a variety of research methods for giving voice to women's
experience and making visible the frequently invisible and undercounted aspects
of women's lives. Students will become acquainted with current discussions of
feminist epistemology, including feminist critiques of traditional research
methods. We will focus on ways of
incorporating and analyzing literary works, historical archives, film, ethnography,
quantitative surveys, media discourse, and feminist participatory research. We
will also discuss issues such as: How and by whom is knowledge produced and
validated? Do distinctively feminist methods exist? What is the relationship of
the researcher to the researched? How does the social location (race, class,
sexual identity, etc.) of the researcher impact on research? What are the
issues (ethical, political, epistemological, methodological) that arise in
studying "others"? How is feminist theory related to research? How
can research relate to efforts for social change?
The course will provide
students with hands-on experience about some of the joys and dilemmas of doing
research, and students will conceptualize and design their own research project
and write a research proposal. The assignments are aimed at familiarizing
students with a number of methods that they can apply to their own thesis
project. The course ends with students
completing their own thesis proposal, but the course is also applicable for
students who have already proposed their thesis and are working on the thesis
itself.
Several professors will visit
the class with expertise on particular topics. Classes will also be interactive
with open discussions on all readings, as well as discussion on the development
of individual research proposals.
Readings
Sharlene Hesse-Biber (2014)
(2nd Ed.). Feminist Research Practice: A Primer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Articles on electronic reserve on Blackboard.sdsu.edu under Course Documents
Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, students should be
able to:
- Understand the differences between feminist and traditional epistemologies and methodologies.
- Use quantitative and qualitative research, archival research, participatory research, literary and film analysis, and discourse analysis in their own thesis.
- Become careful and critical consumers of research presented in the media and in academic texts.
- Complete the SDSU Institutional Review Board criteria for research.
- Design research projects.
- Use the internet and electronic databases for research.
- Interpret and write up research results.
ESTHER D. ROTHBLUM
I am the founding editor of the Journal of Lesbian Studies, and have also edited the book Preventing Heterosexism and Homophobia (Sage) as well as 9 books specifically on lesbians, including Lesbians in Academia(Routledge), Lesbian Friendships (NYU Press), Boston Marriages: Romantic But Asexual Relationships Among Contemporary Lesbians (UMass Press), and Lesbian Ex-Lovers: The Really Long-Term Relationships (Haworth Press), among others.
Longitudinal study of same-sex couples with legalized relationships
In July 2000, Vermont was the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex relationships in the form of civil unions. This was before any U.S. state or Canadian province had legalized same-sex relationships, and before any nation had legalized same-sex marriage. Over 2,000 same-sex couples took advantage of that new legislation during the first year of its enactment. The majority of couples came to Vermont from other U.S. states, despite the fact that civil unions were not recognized by their home state. In the absence of any data about same-sex couples in legalized relationships, I wanted to conduct a study about these couples and follow them over time. What was unique about civil union couples was that civil union certificates were public information, so my research team had access to a population, not just a convenience sample. My research team compared same-sex couples in civil unions with same-sex couples in their friendship circle who did not have civil unions, and with heterosexual married siblings. To date, this has resulted in many articles and book chapters, including results from the first year (Time 1), 3-year follow-up (Time 2), and 12-year follow-up (Time 3).
Research comparing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual siblings
I am continuing to compare lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (LGBTs) with heterosexual, cisgender siblings. There has been little research on sexual orientation that uses appropriate comparison groups, and I began this methodology in order to study the feasibility of using siblings for demographic and mental health comparisons. Many LGBTs have heterosexual and cisgender siblings, and these siblings are usually similar in age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic background.
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