Sociology Of Gender: Methodology

Front 1

Define epistemology (Harding, 1987)

Back 1

A theory about knowledge, about who can know what and under what circumstances knowledge can be developed.

Front 2

Define method (Harding, 1987)

Back 2

A technique for gathering and analyzing information.

Front 3

Define methodology (Harding, 1987)

Back 3

Researcher's choice of how to use chosen methods, based on assumptions (epistemology), where philosophy and action meet.

Front 4

Name three sources of bias in scholarly research (according to Sprague)

Back 4

1. The kinds of questions researchers value. 2. analytic frames used to interpret data 3. the way they communicate their results

Front 5

Define "logical dichotomy" and explain some flaws in this framework. (Sprague)

Back 5

Explain something by opposing it to another construction and calling the categories mutually exclusive and exhaustive. Not found in nature, we are points on a continuum. Examples: Nature/Nurture, Public/Private

Front 6

Define "abstract individuation" and explain some flaws in this framework. (Sprague)

Back 6

Talk of individual in isolation from and unconnected with its interpersonal, historical, or physical context (Sprague, 1997) "RATIONAL MAN" [sic] Ignores interrelated social positionings and interactive dynamic. Creates systemic biases in knowledge.

Front 7

Define "objectification" and explain some flaws in this framework. (Sprague)

Back 7

Logical dichotomy PLUS Abstract Individuation = Objectification, or dehumanization, and a justification for abuse and exploitation. Example: medical experiments on racial others. "Reducing human beings in concrete social relationships down to a set of attributes or a consequence of a genetic pattern makes in hard to see social and environmental conditions that give rise to or exacerbate bbahavior that we find problematic. It leadds to a search for how to change the individual, rather than a consideration of how we might change the situation. Thus, it protects those who most benefit from status quo."

Front 8

Why is it important to distinguish between epistemology, method and methodology? (Harding, 1987)

Back 8

This is a more productive way of addressing research paradigms instead of the qual/quant debate. By criticizing and being reflexive about each of these pieces, it becomes clear that the method is only part of the "knowing choices" that we make when we do research. "What distinguishes critical from uncritical research is not the method used, but how the method is used, both technically and politically" (Sprague).

Front 9

Describe the epistemology of Positivism. (Sprague)

Back 9

Epistemology of the fact. The world of experience is objective and governed by underlying regularities, even natural laws.

Front 10

Describe the epistemology of Objectivity. (Sprague)

Back 10

good science is value free. subjectivity is an obstacle to knowledge.

Front 11

Name three ways that social constructionism contributes to our understanding of the production of knowledge. (Sprague)

Back 11

1. Keeps social character of knowledge production in the foreground. Organization of knowledge and social domination. 2) raises important questions, including scholars own role/position. 3) useful methods: deconstruction, meanings

Front 12

What is critical realism?
What scholar is an example of a critical realist?

Back 12

Critical realists believe that the world exists independently of our thinking about it, there are patterns in the way it works, and our perceptions of it are varied. Sylvia Walby is a critical realist. She talks about how the knower is socially constructed, shaped by discourses of culture and science. The known is complex and changing, including response to social action. The relationship between the knower and the known is mediated by discourse.

Front 13

What is the main debate between standpoint theorists and critical realists?

Back 13

CR says the relationship between the knower and known is culturally organized, but every knower has the same potential to access the known. There is nothing systematically organizing the relationship of groups of knowers to the known. Both see relationship between knower and known as socially mediated. Disagree over wheter there is anything systematic in the biases created in the way that relationship is organized.

Front 14

What are three ways that feminists identify that researchers have power in the research process? (sprague)

Back 14

1. Researchers have more control over the process and how the relationship is constructed. 2. Researchers have power over how findings are interpreted and represented to others. 3. researchers often have more social power than those whom they study.

Front 15

What is the distinction between ideology and knowledge, and why is it important? (sprague)

Back 15

Ideology is a distinct subset of meaning systems, those that are in some important way deceptive and/or distorting, whether unintentionally or by design. Knowledge is produced and interpreted within certain ideological contexts, and is thereby influenced by ideology.

Front 16

What are four issues with the "researcher should be the conduit for silenced voices" argument? (aka handing over power to research subjects) (Sprague)

Back 16

1. fails to acknowledge where subjects already have power. 2. fails to address situations where subjects are more powerful than the researcher. 3. selection bias - scholars choose who will represent the group. 4. can privilege hegemonic discourses over critical ones (what the subjects want to talk about)