Feminist research

• Oakley argued that there is a feminist way of conducting interviews which is superior to a more dominant, masculine model of such research because feminist methods are more ethical.
• The main features of a masculine approach to interviewing are based on the 'the paradigm of the "proper" interview which appeals to values such as objectivity, detachment, hierarchy and "science" as an important cultural activity which takes precedence over people's more individualized concerns.'
• In traditional masculine interviews, the interviewers must maintain their distance to avoid becoming too involved with respondents, any emotional involvement must be avoided at all costs.
• The interviewees must be simply seen as objects of study or sources of data.
• During Oakley's research about mothers, she was asked questions and was even sometimes present at the birth.
• Oakley was asking a great deal of the interviewees at a difficult time in their lives, and it was only reasonable that she should give something back in return (reciprocity).
• Oakley believed that by advising and counselling the women, she may have affected their opinions and thus imposed her values upon the research which positivists would criticize.
• Oakley's writing responds to the idea that sociologists should not move too far away from scientific positivist methodologies as she believes that quantitative methods give sociologists a better chance of gaining access to prestige, funding, and influence on government policy.
• DeVault believes that feminist research should minimize harm to those being researched and minimize the control exercised by the researcher; it should produce research of value to women which can be used to improve their life