ABSTRACT
This chapter will examine the methodological difficulties encountered when a South Asian woman conducts research on a South Asian community. What difference does ‘race’, gender and personal experience make to the research process? How do personal experiences affect the research process? I will discuss the use of a feminist methodology in conducting the research and reflect upon the ways in which my structural position, as a South Asian woman, influenced the research process and affected problems of access, the influence of personal experience and issues of power. It will be argued that collaborative, qualitative forms of research may carry advantages in conducting research incorporating a feminist methodology, whilst at the same time issues of ‘race’, power and status may affect and make us question what a feminist methodology includes.
