1. DO FEMINISTS USE QUANTITATIVE METHODS? A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ‘WOMEN’S STUDIES’ JOURNALS Rachel Cohen, Christina Hughes, Richard Lampard

2. Study outline  Preliminary analysis of articles published in gender, women’s studies and feminist journals.  Journals selected from ISI citation index (‘Women’s Studies’ category). Top cited journals (English language), plus selected others with ‘feminist’/’feminism’ in title.  Analysis of every full article in first and last issue of 2007 (unless ‘Special Issue’, then next issue chosen).  Current N = 256 articles from 19 journals.  Future project – extend this historically.

3. Journals included in the study Journals includedN articles  Gender and Society11  Women's Health Issues13  Gender, Work and Organisation9  Feminist Review16  Feminist Studies12  Gender, Place and Culture14  Women's Studies International Forum14  Violence Against Women12  Psychology of Women Quarterly19  Social Politics10 Journals includedN articles  European Journal of Women's Studies9  Journal of Gender Studies11  Women and Health13  Feminism and Psychology11  Sex Roles24  Journal of Aging11  Feminist Economics9  Signs12  Journal of Women’s Health26 Total256

4. Overview of methodological approaches in Women’s Studies articles. Methodological Approach Theoretical/secondary sources (only)3112% Qualitative9638% Quantitative10943% Mixed: Qualitative & Quantitative208% Specification of the quantitative analyses: Descriptive12698% Bivariate11489% Inferential10885% Multivariate9776%

5. Overview of feminist engagement in Women’s Studies articles. Engagement with Feminist Literature: Number of mentions of ‘Feminism’/‘Feminist’ None10140% 1-24417% 3-104518% 11-253313% 26+3313% Explicit ‘Feminist’ self-positioning (anywhere) 6726% Methodological Justification ‘Feminist’2711% Transformative (not explicitly ‘feminist’)6124% Other (e.g. Technical)10039% None6827%

6. Variation by journal (discipline?)  Exemplar quantitative journals:  Women’s Health Issues: 92% Quantitative, 8% mixed  Psychology of Women Quarterly: 84% Quant, 16% mixed  Feminist Economics: 67% Quant, 33% Theoretical  Exemplar non-quantitative journals  Feminist Review: 92% Qualitative, 8% Mixed  Gender, Place and Culture: 57% Qual, 36% Theoretical, 7% Quant  Feminism and Psychology: 73% Qual, 18% Theoretical, 9% Quant

7. Framing of publication spaces and methodological choice Journal designation (from title)Not QuantitativeQuantitativeN ‘Feminist’79%21%48 ‘Women’s Studies’91%9%23 ‘Gender’76%24%45 ‘Women’12%88%94 ‘Other’50% 46 All50% 256

8. Geographic base and methodological choice National base of first authorNot QuantitativeQuantitativeN US30%70%143 UK86%14%28 Australia67%33%18 Canada73%27%22 Europe74%26%27 Other65%35%17 Unidentifiable100%0%1 All50% 256

9. Logistic Regression of quantitative methods use (summary)  The following increased the likelihood of quantitative methods being used:  US author affiliation  Publishing in a journal with ‘women’ identification  Male second author (first, third and fourth authors have no significant influence!)  Absence of methodological justification  The following decreased the likelihood of quantitative methods being used:  Publishing in a journal with ‘feminist’, ‘women studies’ or ‘gender’ identification  Engagement with feminist literature (note: this accounted for all of an initial effect of explicit feminist positioning)  Either feminist, transformative or ‘other’ methodological justification

10. Do feminists count?  Published articles on women, gender and feminism do employ quantitative methods.  But those published in explicitly feminist/gender studies journals that engage most thoroughly with the feminist literature rarely do.  Moreover, even when quantitative methods are used by feminists, explicitly ‘feminist’ methodological justifications for using quantitative methods are not given.  [Geography and discipline matter...]