This two term course is intended to provide the opportunity for students to explore the shape, content and problems of Women's Studies as a field of study. It is organized around five modules.
- Changing the Subject explores the meaning of the concept `woman' from a number of perspectives, starting from the key concept of gender and then moving on to consider differences among women, particularly `race', age and sexuality and class.
- Working Women and the State compares the economic position of women in the Middle East and Britain in both the wider economy and the family/household, looking out from the Middle East to Britain and problematising Western norms. It also considers the role of material and ideological factors in constraining or empowering women, intervention or inaction and questions of citizenship.
- Approaches to Culture: Subjects, Theories, Texts investigates three key genres of contemporary culture: digital art and fiction; sensationalist, semi-autobiographical novels; and feminine crafts. As well as drawing attention to significant bodies of theory and critique, the sessions will emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of cultural work, the importance of historical moment and cultural specificity alongside a recognition of the effects of globalisation, the political and intellectual usefulness of examining the 'ordinary', and the different ways feminism has deployed autobiographical understandings.
- Gender, Class and Race in Britain and the British Empire in the 19th and 20th Centuries will consider how the inclusion of gender issues has caused some of the most important areas of study in modern British and British imperial history to be reinterpreted and expanded in recent years. It will introduce students to central topics in gender history, such as ideas about the 'public' and the 'private' spheres; constructions of femininity and masculinity; and class identity, work and respectability.
- The Politics of Feminist Theory will explore the development of feminist theory from its political roots in feminist activism to its increasing incorporation into the academy. In the process we will discuss the ways in which feminists have engaged with other forms of theory, the shifts which have occurred in modes of feminist theorising and the extent to which theory retains its political relevance.
Social Science Methodology ModulesThe Methodology Units acquaint students with research related philosophical, epistemological, ethical and political issues and train them in research design, data collection and data analysis.
Introduction to Social Research Methods enables students to gain an understanding of the principles of social research and related philosophical debates from both generic social science and women's studies perspectives. The unit addresses the political ethical and legal dimensions of, and power relationships within, the research process. Students learn to appreciate the variety of methodological techniques, how to judge which are appropriate to particular research problems and how to identify the merits and limitation of different types of research design, including issues of sampling, sampling error, objectivity, value and validity. They develop their critical abilities in interpreting and analysing published research and reviewing research literature. They are acquainted with methods of data collection and of accessing statistical and archival data and enhance their knowledge and application of literature searching and bibliographical skills. They are introduced to basic statistics, SPSS and techniques of qualitative data analysis and thus provided with a foundation for the advanced methods modules taken in the spring term.
Quantitative Data Analysis familiarises students with the use of large-scale national survey data for secondary analysis. They appreciate the importance of understanding the limitations of secondary data and learn how to handle and transform them for particular purposes. Students examine the analytic process using concepts of probability, using parametric and non-parametric techniques to test hypotheses. They model social phenomena mathematically using analysis of variance, multiple linear regression and logistic regression techniques. By the end of the module students have sufficient understanding of statistical theory to enable them to learn further techniques as required. Students also learn how to interpret critically the results of their work and to present results in a clear and accessible form Qualitative Analysis enables students to develop an appreciation and working knowledge of key approaches to qualitative research and analysis. The research strategies explored include ethnography, observation, interviewing, focus groups and the use of documentary, archival and textual sources. Techniques of data analysis include varieties of textual analysis, discourse analysis and conversation analysis. Students gain experience of manual and computer-aided analysis using Nvivo and ATLAS ti) on gender relevant data. By the end of the unit students should understand the philosophy of and premises underlying qualitative analysis and be able to analyse, interpret and present qualitative findings coherently and cogently.
Qualitative Methods enables students to develop an appreciation and working knowledge of key approaches to qualitative research and analysis. The research strategies explored include ethnography, observation, interviewing, focus groups and the use of documentary, archival and textual sources. Techniques of data analysis include varieties of textual analysis, discourse analysis and conversation analysis. Students gain experience of manual and computer-aided analysis using Nvivo and ATLAS ti) on gender relevant data. By the end of the unit students should understand the philosophy of and premises underlying qualitative analysis and be able to analyse, interpret and present qualitative findings coherently and cogently
Research Training Modules in Women's StudiesInterdisciplinary Methods in Women's Studies enables students to gain an understanding of the key methodological and epistemological debates within women's studies including; ethics in women's studies, assessing the use and applicability of quantitative and qualitative methods to the investigation of gender divisions and divisions among women; comparative research on women and gender; national and international statistical resources for the study of women and gender; the use of the internet and bibliographical searches as research tools; issues of translation of language and meaning in cross-cultural research; uses and sources of historical research; the use and interpretation of statistics for historical research; oral history.
Research Design and Implementation Workshops begins with a revision of the principles of research design covered in methodology modules in the first two terms, emphasising the context of research, the generation of research questions, the importance of adequate conceptual and theoretical frameworks, the selection of appropriate methods, the development and piloting of research instruments. Students are taught the principles of writing a research proposal and are then expected to apply this to their own dissertation work, developing their own project through collaboration and critical engagement with each other's work. On completing this unit students should have developed a full proposal for their own research based dissertation and developed and begun to pilot their research instruments and have learned how to offer and receive constructive comments on each other's work in progress through giving and hearing presentations and to value ideas and insights of other researchers.
