CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Shields, V. R., & Dervin, B. (1993). Sense-Making in feminist social science research: A call to enlarge the methodological options of feminist studies. Women’s Studies International Forum, 16 (1), 65-81.
© Pergamon Press (1993).

CAUTION:
The paper as presented below is the conference paper version of the paper that was later substantially revised and published as cited above. The conference paper citation is: Shields, V. R., & Dervin, B. (1991, May). Making sense of methodology: On feminist scholarship and Sense-Making research. Paper presented at the meeting of the International Communication Association, Chicago. The version of the paper presented below does not reflect any changes made by authors or editors prior to publication, nor does it provide pagination markers. Furthermore, references appear as listed in the conference paper.

ABSTRACT:
This paper explores the ways in which feminist scholars have conceived their studies in order to conduct research that is for the emancipation of women and a more egalitarian society. In aspiring to the ideals of feminist theory, many researchers in the social sciences as well as the humanities have developed elaborate collaborative research projects that combine a variety of methods and approaches. Critiques of these methodologies are beginning to emerge from within the field of feminist research. Some claim that highly collaborative participatory research should not be seen as the absolute model for all feminist empirical studies. There are those situations that warrant the development of alternative approaches. This analysis suggests that Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology is the type of research approach that could offer feminist scholarship methods that are true to the ideals of feminist perspectives, but at the same time avoids some of the traps of research that demand collaboration and an overemphasis on intersubjectivity.

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OTHER MATERIALS BY THESE AUTHORS ON THIS WEB SITE:
For Shields,
See:http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistshieldsv.html.
For Dervin,
See:  http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistdervin.html.