ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of how reciprocity was developed through the multiple research methods used to collect data for a small-scale qualitative study. Multiple methods, including reciprocity, were developed with the intent of influencing classroom practices, and students’ understandings about gender, thereby opening up the possibility of transforming the current gendered social order. Feminist poststructuralism informed the research design and methods created in a qualitative and multi-method small-scale study of gender in a preschool classroom. Reciprocity is built into the research design using three processes: informal, reflective teacher interviews and informal, ongoing and continuous ‘research talks’; monthly, scheduled reflective interviews with selected students, and having a small group of students analyse episodes of video data; and data sharing with the entire class. The multiple methods employed in the qualitative study allowed the teacher to uncover the practices and discourses of heterosexuality and how they operated within the context of the preschool classroom.
