ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the main elements of the research design: the survey methods used for securing samples, the questionnaire and its translation, and the gender vocabularies used to classify respondents’ comments. In the process, some characteristics of the national samples are introduced, thus setting the stage for a comparative examination of national feminisms in Chapters 2 and 3, illustrated with comments from my research samples. I say ‘illustrate’ because the national samples in all but two countries (Australia and Japan) are very small and my own deficient monolingualism meant relying on local researchers to translate the questionnaire, originally designed for a western study, and the comments made by respondents. My linguistic limitations are, to a small extent, compensated by a period of living in Beijing and Tokyo, where colleagues and students have acted as both friends and informants. With the exception of Indonesia, I have spent at least two research weeks in every other country in my sample, consulting with academic colleagues and presenting seminars on my findings. Furthermore, I know of no other comparative study exploring young people’s attitudes to feminism and gender issues in such a range of countries in Asia and North America. So, while the samples are neither representative of middle class youth in each nation nor comparable in terms of numerical results, the qualitative results explore the very different ways, as well as unexpected convergences, in how some urban middle class youth in each nation frame and consider issues of sexuality and feminism.
