Poor Women Survey Poor Women: Feminist Perspectives in Survey Research

This essay examines how applying feminist principles in scientific inquiry changes both the process and the results of research. Overall, I find that including feminist perspectives improves research. Involving a women's community in the research process and allowing poor women to interview poor women may reduce interviewer bias, improve response rates and facilitate trust in answering questions that are often quite sensitive. Including poor women in the interviewing process also enables these women to learn about scientific inquiry and to participate in the research process.