feminist online interviewing: engaging issues of power, resistance and reflexivity in practice

Feminist Review March 2017, Volume 115, Issue 1, pp 97–113 Authors Authors and affiliations Jasmine R. LinabaryStephanie A. HamelEmail author 1. 2. Article First Online: 25 May 2017 abstract This paper is a response to scholars who have called for exploring and interrogating new strategies of data collection and new approaches to more traditional methods, such as interviewing in the context of the internet. Drawing on feminist standpoint theory, ‘reflexive email interviewing’ is proposed as a method for feminist research. The method is illustrated using a recent case study of email interviews with self-identified women who are members of World Pulse, an online community that aims to unite and amplify women’s voices worldwide. Through this case study, issues of power and resistance in the researcher/researched relationship and of participant reflexivity are interrogated. Lastly, criteria for reflexive email interviewing are proposed, including 1) strategies to interrogate and disrupt power hierarchies within the research process, 2) researcher reflexivity as a continuous part of the research process, and 3) continued invitations for participants to directly reflect on and respond to the research process. Reflexive questions are offered for researchers to use during research design and in each phase of their research process to ensure reflexivity is achieved. keywords feminist methodology online interviewing qualitative methods power reflexivity references Bhavnani, K. and Talcott, M., 2012. Interconnections and configurations: toward a global feminist ethnography. In S.N. Hesse-Biber, ed. Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc., pp. 135–153. Google Scholar Briggs, C.L., 1986. Learning How to Ask: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the Interview in Social Science Research. 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