Abstract
This chapter discusses how I came up with this research design. It starts with an introduction of different types of qualitative inquiry which I had considered. Yet, through the process of reviewing various types of qualitative inquiry respectively, I find that each of these types appear to be consistent with my research goals and planned mode of enquiry in one way or another. Thus, I decide to take some elements from each type and connect them with my research objectives. I suggest that qualitative research methodology should be more open to adaptation in terms of flexible design, mixed paradigms and varied use of tools and methods. Then I review two epistemological theories which I considered to be useful – interpretive interactionism and critical inquiry – to guide this research.
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Notes
- 1.
Mishler (1991), Kleinman (1988), Reissman (1993) and Coles (1989) shared a commitment to the value of the narrative method, but they disagreed on the purpose and method of narrative analysis and the form of the analysis often appeared to be a largely intuitive process.
- 2.
Gayatri Spivak (born February 24, 1942) is an Indian literary critic and theorist. She is best known for her translation of Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology and the monograph Can the Subaltern Speak?, which is considered a founding text of postcolonialism. She described herself as a ‘practical Marxist-feminist-deconstructionist.’ (see also Spivak 2010)
- 3.
When N’s are large, there are few opportunities for revising a casing—that is, the delimitation of a case. At the start of the analysis, cases are decomposed into variables, and almost the entire dialogue of ideas and evidence occurs through variables. One implication of this discussion is that to the extent that large-N research can be sensitised to the diversity and potential heterogeneity of the cases included in an analysis (Ragin 1992). Here, detailing each case’s particular social circumstances could provide readers with rich information of the way in which the young femininity has been transformed in a rapidly marketised developing country, as well as the extent to which of young urban Chinese women get involved with the global feminism.
- 4.
See Appendix 3 for the categorisation of class in Chinese context. By saying this, I was not going to make generalisation of the shared interest and experience of young women who grew up in such family background across China. Moreover, in this book, I defined ‘urban’ as ‘the first-tiered Chinese city’ on the basis of the consideration that contemporary Chinese society is experiencing rapid urbanisation and marketisation. See Appendix 4 for the tiered city system in China and city geography of Shanghai.
- 5.
University X is a state-run key university under the ‘Project 985’. ‘Project 985’ is a boosting project to promote the Chinese higher education system under the call of the President Jiang Zemin at the 100th anniversary of Peking University on May 4, 1998. The objective is to develop, in cooperation with local government, several top universities to become world-leading (China Education Centre 2004). At the time when I did my fieldwork, this university is made up of 18 full-time schools and colleges, 2 unconventional colleges and 4 advanced research institutes, with 54 departments offering 67 undergraduate programmes. The total number of students is more than 49,000, with over 14,000 full-time undergraduate students and over 7700 graduate students (including those in a Master’s programme), among whom more than 2700 are international students. Students in this university come from diverse social backgrounds and different origins. They have to go through a strict selection system in order to get enrolled.
- 6.
See Appendix 2 for the report of Cultural Differences Affecting Ethnographic Research Methods in China: A Bicultural Viewpoint Based on the Chinese Model of Thought. Retrieved from its website http://www.kaizor.com/. Elaine Ann, the founder of Kaizor Innovation, a strategic innovation consulting company uniquely positioned to help develop appropriate innovation strategies, research and designs for the emerging China market, also pointed out the problems caused by using traditional ethnographic methods in the fieldwork in China. As she noted, ‘ethnographic research methods originated from the United States are based on a Western model of thought … this process and method can have problems leading to cross-cultural conflicts and misinterpretation of data when applied to China without considering the fundamental differences in culture… there is reason to believe that ethnographic research methods will require adaptation if conducted in China for results to be accurate and meaningful.’
- 7.
I was born in a middle-class family in Beijing, China. Both of my parents worked in the state-owned work unit. My father used to work as an Architecture Engineer in the Infrastructure Department of an esteem hospital and my mother as a Warehouse Keeper in the Supply Department there. Owing to the Cultural Revolution in China, both of my parents did not have the opportunity to go to the university.
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© 2016 Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd and Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
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Zheng, J. (2016). Feminist Epistemology and Approach. In: New Feminism in China. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0777-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0777-4_3
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