Assignment:
I am writing a research proposal using a feminist perspective which is looking at women's experiences of responding to stereotypes of unwed motherhood. I am interested in mature unwed women's experiences versus teenagers. Specifically, my question "in the rough" to be researched is: what are the experiences of these women and how have they resisted these stereotypes. If I could some how make a link to how these stereotypes are internalized and affect one's identity that would be great too. I was thinking of basing this research on the experiences of 5-10 individuals who have been adult unmarried mothers at some point of time--not sure yet where I might find these people. I was then thinking of comparing these experiences over two different time periods (ie. 1970-80's versus today) to identify similarities/differences in the meanings attached to their experiences.
An unstructured interview approach would be initially used and accompanied by follow-up meetings with the participants which would all be taped and then transcribed. I am thinking that I could base my proposal on some of Foucault's thinking, ie. social policies promote these stereotypes.
I would also like to use discourse analysis in this proposal as well and was wondering how I might incorporate this--what could I look at?--any ideas or leads? In addition, I am looking for ways to demonstrate the use of interdisciplinarity. Any criticisms, feedback, suggestions you could make would be greatly appreciated. My difficulty is trying to come up with a solid plan for data collection and analysis (research design?) that would help answer my proposed question.