Research Proposal
The role and impact of the movement #MeToo in Pacific Island Countries.
Analyse of what is left of #MeToo in terms of awareness, individual and institutional responses to sexual harassment, policies etc. Also, some focus on specific category of women.
Outline the problem/issue that calls for the research and the significance of the proposed research (research problem and rationale), and what you would want the proposed research to contribute to in feminist terms.
At one time the movement was so popular and has helped many people, especially females to come forward and share their stories, create awareness and report. However, this movement is now fading. The research will look at the power and longevity of the movement and why is it slowly losing its momentum despite the increase in the number of cases of sexual abuse and assault on a daily basis.
While focusing on the Pacific Islands region, it is important to acknowledge what is happening globally in the literature review and when you develop the research proposal.
PURPOSE
This assignment allows students to develop a research proposal on a topic relevant to the course’s themes, applying feminist theory, methodology and research methods. Since this is a proposal, you do not have to come up with results, although you may hypothesise findings/outcomes.
CONTENT
• As a feminist research, your proposed research must include:
1. The notion of GENDER
2. The notion of POWER and how it plays out in gender – what gender (the concept, specific roles, norms, relations) does not allow and allows; processes of exclusion and inclusion taking place around gender; power differentials between genders and within a specific gender; how gender shapes one’s understanding of power.
• Your proposal will situate the topic in a specific community(ies), country, and/or region – remember to acknowledge the diversity and complexity of the contexts you choose. For instance, if you choose the Pacific region, please make sure you are not, in fact, only speaking about Fiji.
• Aiming to unpack gender and power, feminist research is interested in the root causes of gender inequalities, in the instruments through which it operates, in its consequences, and in the responses to its consequences. Therefore, when you choose your topic, please remember that your proposed research should aim to one of the following:
1. unpack what a gender equality issue rests on by focusing on gendered experiences and/or the construction of gender;
2. explore different examples of construction and deconstruction of gender (the concept itself, specific roles, norms, relations and the associated performances)
3. explore different intersectionalities;
4. explore inclusion and exclusion within feminism itself;
5. or, develop specific feminist standpoints.
• All of this means that your topic does not necessarily have to be a gender equality issue. It can include feminism as a movement, the standpoints it is made of, the analysis of cultural texts (social media, print media, radio, television, cinema, advertisements, dances, paintings, sculptures, literature, poetry, music, laws, fashion, sport performances, political manifestos, and so on) with regards to gender.
THEORY
Your proposed investigation will incorporate one or more of the feminist theories (and associated debates) we have considered, depending on your topic and your approach to it.
METHODOLOGY
Your will need to use your own words to describe how your proposed research adopts a feminist frame, keeping in mind 4 items.
1. Approach: how does your research reveal an interest in social justice via the analysis of gender and power? What makes it a form of ‘feminist activism’? who and/or what does it give voice to?
2. Epistemology: whose knowledge are you basing the research on? Are you using feminist standpoint theory as the epistemology of your proposed research, which gives spaces to the knowledge of women or other gendered categories that have been discriminated in specific spaces? Are you actually exploring the knowledge of those who have power, and if so how does that still fall within feminist research?
3. Researcher’s positionality: how would you be positioned in the research respect to your research informants? How is your position going to influence the data collection and analysis? Are there any power differentials between you and your research informants? How would you be positioned respect to the topic?
4. Research methods: what kind of methods are you using for your data collection? What makes them feminist?
RESEARCH METHODS
You will need to choose amongst the following methods:
1. If you chose feminist qualitative approach, you can opt for methods like in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, and/or life history;
2. if you chose a feminist quantitative approach, you can opt for questionnaires – this is the least common option.
3. you can instead combine qualitative and quantitative methods, using a feminist mixed-method approach.
4. If your research examines cultural texts and what they say about gender, then you will have to use Feminist content analysis, which can be qualitative and quantitative.
STRUCTURE of the PROPOSAL
Your proposed research must be developed around the following items (in the following order):
Title of Research
Abstract: a short summary of the proposal (200/250 words). It should state the research problem, the proposed research to address this problem, and its significance, and the feminist approach it rests on. Please do not include literature, specific theories, and specific details about methods.
1. Introduction: This is the background to your proposed research. Here you show your understanding of the topic, and explain how your proposed research fits into the general area of study (in this case how it relates to feminism’ s interests and goals).
2. The Study presents the actual research you propose. This will include three sub-sections:
2.1 Research Problem and Rationale: Explain what you intend to study, specifying the problem it intends to address and why it is important. Your research needs to have a focus, purpose and justification
2.2 Research Question : This is the general question that your study intends to answer (this is something distinct from the questions that one would ask during interviews!). Please identify that ONE question. If you think one question is not enough, you can have a second question identifying a sub-theme.
2.3 Research Aim(s) and Objectives: please include the feminist goal of your research – advocacy (of what, for whom?) inclusion (of the gender notion, of the notion of gender equality, of women, specific groups of women, other gendered categories?) empowerment (for whom)? promoting, supporting, encouraging (what exactly)? Then you list the two main you will take to achieve that goal (basically illustrate the steps of your envisaged research).
3 Literature Review: Contextualise your research problem acknowledging previous research and knowledge, which includes the debates associated with your research problem/questions, other research designs, innovative ideas etc. It is NOT a simple list of works, and it is NOT an annotated bibliography (a description of referenced work). If you use 15 sources or more, that is great. Between 15 and 9, it is good. Between 9 and 6 you are still safe. Less than 5 is a very small number of sources for a research proposal.
4 Theoretical Framework: Identify and discuss the feminist theoretical perspective that informs your study.
5 Methodology: Explain and justify the feminist methodological frame (approach, epistemology, researcher’s positionality). It includes the following sub-themes:
5.1 Methods: illustrate and motivate the specific methods that you intend to employ (within the feminist frame). Possibly identify both the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen methods.
5.2. Limitations of the study: if you identify any…;
5. 3 Ethical Considerations: Identify any ethical issues which may be of relevance to your study and how you intend to address them.
References: the list of the references you have used to develop your research proposal. Please comply with the Harward Referencing style.
GUIDELINES
As you prepare this proposal, consider the following questions:
• If you had the chance to conduct a research using a feminist frame, what topic would you be interested in?
• Why are you interested in this topic? Is there a particular goal for your researching this topic? Is it something that has affected your life or the lives of people around you?
• Why would you opt for specific research methods over others?
• With regards to your own positionality in the research: what power relations with research participants might you have to deal with as you conduct of research? What shared experiences could you identify? How would your own lived experiences shape your own approaches, guide your research, or perhaps limit it?
• How long do you think this proposed study will take to complete? Please be realistic
• What are you really interested in? Please do not pack the world in the proposed research.