Neo-marxist theory provides a better tool for educational researchers than other research methodologies because of its focus on empowering the dispossessed and its interest in the relationships between human activity and material circumstances. Traditional educational research is rooted in the positivist tradition and claims to be value neutral…

Three topics are discussed: (1) the meaning of feminist research; (2) what can be learned about research practices from feminist efforts to create empowering research designs; and (3) how postmodernism presents challenges to feminist empirical work. Feminist research puts the social construction of gender at the center of one's inquiry in order to…