GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF FEMINIST RESEARCH IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Abstract

Three decades after the question whether the sex of the knower is epistemologically significant was posed, the review of main body of literature suggests that there is still no consensus on whether there is a distinctive feminist methodology\ However, it has been suggested by many feminist scholars that there are some unify guiding principles of feminist research that cut across the diverse approaches used in social sciences. The article reveals these common principles of feminist research mainly by contrasting them to the traditional academic methodology that is still predominantly based on positivistic epistemology. The final section of the paper briefly discusses the critiques addressed to the feminist methodology articulated on the basis of feminist research experiences.