Group Interviews as a Feminist Research Method

• In Event: 073 - Regular Session. Feminist Research Methods

Abstract

Although focus groups are widely used within the social sciences, group interviews remain underutilized among feminists, particularly among feminist sociologists. In this essay, we address two key ways in which group interviews address feminist critiques of more traditional types of qualitative research methods. To do so, we draw upon two recent sociological case studies. Using data collected from nine months of participant observation research and 15 semi-structured interviews with swimmers on a competitive youth swim team, we argue that interviews in a group setting can avoid exploitation by shifting the balance of power away from the researcher to the participants. Then, through an analysis of 45 interviews collected for a study of college hookup culture, we demonstrate that group interviews also avoid decontextualization by encouraging a multiplicity of perspectives and the co-construction of meaning among participants. For these reasons, group interviews are an important resource for feminist knowledge production and can help minimize hierarchical relationships that are embedded within research methods commonly employed by qualitative sociologists.

Authors

• Jess Butler, Western State Colorado University

• Michela Musto, University of Southern California