ABSTRACT
For feminists a prime goal is to use social research to change women’s oppressed lives. Research is, therefore, closely linked to social change. Interestingly, although there was a gender mix in terms of numbers on the part-time and three year degree programmes the overwhelming majority who responded to being interviewed were women. Many of these women besides coping with being students also had domestic responsibilities and in the case of part-time students, full-time jobs as well, yet they found the time to participate. Gender differences in interview responses may relate to gender socialisation. It is socially more acceptable for women to talk about their private lives, emotional issues and problems than men. Feminist researchers recognise the parallels, relationship and influence of interactionism, ethnomethodology and phenomenology within feminist methods. Both pursue a humanistic approach to interviewing by valuing the interviewee as a person and not an object. A central unifying theme is their opposition to postivism.
