Research which is explicitly feminist focuses on women's experiences on the grounds that traditional research methods assume male experience as normative. Feminist research also recognizes that there are no singular experiences, nor are experiences static and unchanging. Third, feminist research acknowledges that there is a distinctive relationship between subject and researcher. The gendered researcher will have her own understanding of the participant's experience because of her social location. This involves essentially avoiding the treatment of subjects as mere objects of knowledge as is the situation in an interview where the participant can respond and 'talk back'.
Feminist methodology informs the research methodology adopted here.
First, gender is assumed as central to experiences on the Internet and to the issue of gender differences is seen as central to understanding Internet experiences. The research is intended to remedy the short-sightedness of previous research. In terms of methodological approaches, the researcher self- consciously situates herself as a feminist who is both actor and reactor in the research process. Data is collected reflecting both my participants experiences as well as my own. Consistent with this, research participants are conceptualized as actors as well as participants in the research.