ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses two increasingly important approaches in the broader category of critical research: feminist research and empowerment research. These approaches evolved out of the action research model developed in the 1940s by Kurt Lewin, who is considered to be one of the founders of social psychology. Subsequent researchers working in this approach recognized the need for a research design devoid of any gender bias and included feminist research as a variation of the action-oriented research approach. Lewin, a refugee who fled to the United States in the 1930s from Nazi Germany, also developed a research model that focused on empowering members of minority groups who were dominated by a more powerful majority. This empowerment research was conceived as a way for exploited groups to break the chain of exploitation by taking action against their exploiters. The role of the researcher in this model was to function as a guidance resource for the people.
