Deck 7: Critical Approaches to Research: Action and Feminist Research

Question 1

Feminist research has advantages in all areas except:

A) generalizability
B) probing
C) causal inference
D) validity

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Institutional ethnography is an approach used when the research goal is to:

A) study the social structure of powerful organizations
B) study social reality as it is constructed in the minds of those who experience it.
C) read texts for their organizational structure
D) study, in detail, the experiences of institutionalized persons

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Participatory action research includes:

A) defined goals, liberation, and group consensus
B) group consensus, change, and the ethics of liberation
C) research, adult education, and socio-political action
D) participation, reactive, and group consensus

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The goal of feminist research is best defined by:

A) seeing of phenomena from the perspective of women
B) recognizing the existence of conditions that oppress women
C) the desire to change conditions through research leading to political action
D) all of the above

Question 5

A feminist researcher, in particular, is expected to be:

A) professional
B) interactive
C) reflexive
D) a woman

Question 6

The strength of critical research lies in the area of:

A) generalizability
B) validity
C) bringing about social change and empowering marginalized people
D) unambiguous causal inference

Question 7

Which method is considered the best by critical researchers?

A) in-depth interviews
B) participant observation
C) qualitative methods
D) multi-method approach

Question 8

An oral history interview is:

A) when the researcher shares transcripts with the participants and invites them to contribute to the analysis and interpretation
B) when the participants tell stories about themselves and the researcher later analyzes them for their meaning
C) an investigation of participants' life histories that is guided to attain specific knowledge for the researcher
D) a participant-guided investigation of a lived-experience in which few prepared questions are asked.

Question 9

"Research from the margins" means that:

A) critical research is focused on empowering marginalized citizens.
B) there is an increased number of female researchers over male researchers.
C) research participants are respected as "equally knowing subjects".
D) participant observation and/or ethnographic research has been implemented.

Question 10

Among the challenges in action research is:

A) protecting the interests of the larger society
B) negotiating a reasonable compromise between competing interest groups
C) minimizing power imbalances among participants
D) that everything happens so fast

Question 11

The aim of all action research is:

A) to produce practical knowledge that has the potential to improve a specific social condition
B) to generalize solutions to problems that apply across a range of settings
C) to massage data so that particular outcomes are achieved
D) to be active in the field so that the knowledge gained is more specific

Question 12

The feminist research perspective attempts to:

A) replace patriarchy with matriarchy
B) reject the fundamentals of the critical approach
C) validate women's experiences and perceptions
D) reject the reflexivity of male research

Question 13

Feminist researchers claim that an understanding of human societies is impossible without the recognition of:

A) matriarchy
B) patriarchy
C) the means of production
D) inadvertent reinforcement

Question 14

Which is not a quality of feminist perspectives:

A) a recognition of the existence of conditions which oppress women
B) a desire for a matriarchal society
C) a valuing of women and their experiences, ideas, and needs
D) a desire to change conditions through criticisms and political action

Question 15

Texts, according to Dorothy Smith:

A) are organizational features of institutions
B) can reveal the institutional practices that organize people's experiences
C) mediate people's experiences and interactions
D) all of the above