Process, Content, and Feminist Reflexivity: One Researcher's Exploration

This article explores the unraveling of the relationship between research methodology, process, and content as revealed through my own feminist research project. I examine the evolution of my research process with one participant from a larger study, as I sought to better understand a story she told about racism. First, I address the theoretical underpinnings of feminist reflexivity and research, which challenge traditional paradigms. Next, I present the participant's (a white family day care provider's) story about racism in her practice which was revealed during an interview process. Subsequently, I present a second dialogue around the story in which we (researcher and participant) later engaged. In the process, I analyze my struggles, as a researcher trained in positivist methods, to engage in reflexive research methods. Finally, I evaluate the gains made for me as a researcher in the process and content of research conducted with a feminist reflexive frame and suggest their utility in deconstructing White racism.     

Dry-bed training: rapid elimination of childhood enuresis

Enuresis has been treated with moderate effectiveness by the urine-alarm method which requires many weeks of training. The present procedure used a urine-alarm apparatus but added such features as training in inhibiting urination, positive reinforcement for correct urinations, training in rapid awakening, increased fluid intake, increased social motivation to be nonenuretic, self-correction of accidents, and practice in toileting. After one all-night training session, the 24 enuretic children averaged only two bedwettings before achieving fourteen consecutive dry nights and had no major relapses. Little or no reduction in bedwetting occurred within the first two weeks for matched-control enuretics who were given the standard urine-alarm training. The results of a control-procedure showed that the new procedure did not involve Pavlovian conditioning. The new method appears to be a more rapid, effective and different type of treatment for enuresis.     

A rapid method of eliminating stuttering by a regulated breathing approach

The Habit Reversal Procedure for eliminating nervous habits was applied to the problem of stuttering. In the new procedure the speaker interrupted his speech at moments of actual or anticipated stuttering and at natural pause points, and resumed speaking immediately after breathing deeply during the pause. In addition to this regularized pausing and breathing, the program included other factors such as formulation of one's thoughts prior to speaking, identification of stutter-prone situations, identification of mannerisms associated with stuttering, speaking for short durations when tense or nervous, daily breathing exercises, relaxation procedures for anxiety, immediate display of improved speaking, and enlisting family support for progress. Fourteen stutterers were given training in the program during a single counseling session of about two hours duration. The next day, the average number of stuttering episodes decreased by 94 per cent, by 97 per cent at the end of one month, and by 99 per cent during the extended follow-up. Each of the clients was improved by at least 93 per cent. The new procedure appears to be more rapid and effective than alternative procedures.     

Environments as reinforcer systems in the study of job satisfaction

This paper examined differences in the degree to which fifteen specific sources of job satisfaction were related to and predictive of the overall satisfaction of department chairmen in the six model environments proposed by Holland (1973). The fifteen specific sources of job satisfaction were regressed on overall satisfaction, separately for chairmen in each environment, through the use of incremental stepwise multiple regression procedures. The results indicated that the overall satisfaction of chairmen in these six environments was differentially related to unique weightings and combinations of the fifteen predictor variables. It was concluded that environments, composed of essentially similar groups of people in different organizations, serve as job satisfaction reinforcer systems in a manner similar to organizations as illustrated by Dawis.     

Reconstruction of arbitrary versus logical sequences by preschool children

The ability of preschool children to construct and reconstruct ordered sequences was examined in a series of four experiments. In Expt. 1, the task was to copy, with the model present or absent, the order of items pegged on a clothesline. In Expts. 2–4, the subjects were required to reconstruct ordered series of pictures from memory. In all experiments, the orders were either logical or arbitrary. Reconstruction of an arbitrary series of events is within the problem solving capacity of 4-yr-old children if (a) reconstruction takes place in the presence of the model or follows immediately upon the removal of the model and (b) the original sequence is presented simultaneously. If, however, the lag between viewing and reconstruction is increased and/or the original set is not viewed simultaneously, as a unit, performance declines. The provision of an inherent order to the items within a set, either by introducing a connective narrative, or a depicted logical sequence, is sufficient to maintain that order over time and to provide a unifying cohesion to the items when viewed successively.     

A two year follow-up study of public vocational school graduates

A 2-year follow-up study of public vocational school graduates revealed that the graduates successfully obtained jobs. Among the factors deemed important by both graduates and employer, communication skills were mentioned as vital. Counseling and preparation in getting along with others were perceived by graduates as inferior. Except for cooperative work program graduates, adjustment to an 8 hr workday caused some problems.     

Children's interpretation of adult nonreaction: A trial-by-trial self-report assessment and evidence for contrast effects in an observational context

The study investigated children's interpretation of blank reaction (nonreaction) from one adult to another as a function of its pairing with positive or negative overt feedback. Each child watched through a one-way mirror as an evaluating adult provided feedback to a second adult who was performing on a two-choice discrimination task. After six initial blank reaction trials, children observed one of four types of feedback combinations over 60 experimental trials: (a) right feedback on some trials and blank reactions on others, (b) wrong feedback on some trials and blank reactions on others, (c) right, wrong, and nonreaction on different trials, or (d) nonreaction on all trials. There was little evidence that children consistently interpreted blank reaction as meaning right independent of feedback combination. In contrast, in the Right-Blank and Wrong-Blank feedback combinations, children interpreted blank as meaning the opposite of the overt feedback it was paired with on over two-thirds of the trials, with no sex differences or test anxiety effects.