SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Western sociologists and feminist researchers have extensively discussed qualitative research methodology. However, such methods are subject to local adjustments when they are applied in a non-western country. In this article I reflect upon my experience of collecting women's life histories in urban China, drawing attention to my position as an insider researcher, how I contacted interviewees and conducted interviews with two generations of women, and accounting for some specific features of the ways in which these Chinese women narrated their lives. I identify the ways in which specific social-cultural practices impacted upon my collection of life narratives and suggest that balancing western ideas and ethical approaches to qualitative research with local specificity is crucially important in such cross-cultural studies.