Maps, numbers, text and context: Mixing methods in feminist political ecology

Abstract

To find the answer to the question: "is a feminist poststructuralist science and any unique method to enrich the practice of feminist research?" the author applies feminist theory to the question of research design with a combination of qualitative and quantitative method and case study method in the feminist political ecology. Using a multi-method approach with several data collection activities, the field study is conducted through a social forestry program with a peasant federation and an international NGO in the Dominican Republic. The study examines three methodological questions. The first question is who should be the study group and what should be the criteria of selection? The author emphasizes more on affinity than identity. Second, the study also investigates the reasoning for using qualitative and quantitative methods in the Feminist research. The final question is regard to the process of combination of gendered insights of stories, maps and pictures with the qualitative method. This study implies that it is possible to enrich feminist research with the combination of theoretical interpretive approaches and empirical field study in feminist political ecology.