The research project aims at exploring the impact of education on women’s subjugation in India in order to generate a substantive theory “Theory of Victimizing Educated Women in India”. The qualitative study used two interview methods, Biographical Narrative Interview (Rosenthal 1995) and Expert interview (Bogner, Littig and Menz 2009) to explore the role of education in women empowerment and followed by Glaser’s Classical Grounded Theory design (1967) for coding and comparing different emerged patterns to generate a substantive theory from the collected data. The study commenced with an observation of increasing violence on educated Indian women and conducted a pre- study field work to explore the observation further. The researcher initially defined education as learning at an institutional set up for a limited period of time but due to the fact that a considerable amount of the Indian female population is still illiterate (34.54 % illiterate female in 2011)39, the researcher used broad definition of education as lifelong learning which includes non-formal and informal education (Coomb and Ahmed 1974, P 8). These various concepts of education are broadly already defined in the Literature Review of the thesis.
The following points will overview the research methods and data analysis for the current thesis;
• The pre- study research using two methods, Biographical Narrative Interview (Rosenthal 1995) and Expert Interview (Bogner, Littig and Menz 2009), six interviews of each method were conducted in the pre-study field work.
39 For more reference, please see http://www.census2011.co.in/literacy.php. Accessed November 8, 2017.
Census of India, 2011 is the latest census conducted by Indian government. Government of India conducts census every 10 years. Census of India 2011 is 15th census conducted by the government.
• Biographical narrative interview is used with an aim to understand subjective meaning given by the participants (Rosenthal 2004)40 and expert interview method to establish initial orientation on the research theme (Bogner and Menz 2009) from the experts who gained a considerable amount of experience in the field of the social phenomenon under investigation.
• The researcher interviewed 22 experts for the main study field work. For the main study, experts do not serve as a catalyst but rather a tool for obtaining exclusive and specialized knowledge of the issue being researched (Bogner and Menz 2009, P 47)41.
• Classical grounded theory analysis is used to analyse the expert interview data. In CGT, constant comparison of the data and coding generated a substantive grounded theory (Glaser 1978, 1992). The core-category, sub-core category and related categories were further illustrated by the data collected by the biographical narrative interview and previous literature to make the theory holistic and all- inclusive.
• The substantive grounded theory of “victimization of educated women in India” is generated from the pre-study and the main study field work.
The current research is divided into a pre-study and a main study. To explore the relationship between education and violence on Indian women, the researcher used qualitative methods such as Biographical narrative interview and Expert interview. The chapter starts with a section elucidating the rationale, aim and purpose of using qualitative methods for the current study followed by section explaining the aim of the research, research area, data collection methods and demographic profile of the respondents of the pre-study field work. The next section illustrates the main study field work and its data collection method followed by the
40 Gabriele Rosenthal, “Biographical Research”, in Qualitative Research Practice, ed. Clive Seale et al., (Sage, 2004), 48-64.
41 Alexander Bogner and Wolfgang Menz, “The Theory Generating Expert Interview: Epistemological Interest, Forms of Knowledge, Interaction” in Interviewing Experts, ed. Alexander Bogner et al., (Springer, 2009), 43-80.
demographic profile of the respondents of the main study field work. In the third section, the researcher explains grounded theory approach, different versions of the grounded theory approach and procedure followed for CGT approach. The chapter is concluded by explaining the ethical considerations and criteria for judging classical grounded theory.
1.1 Rationale for qualitative research
While talking about the utilitarian perspective of a research approach Marvasti (2003) stated, “choosing a research method is not about deciding right from wrong, or deciding truth from falsehood; instead, the goal should be to select an approach that is suitable for the task at hand” (P 8). The qualitative approach is best suited to explore in depth meaning associated by educated women to violence and in turn to understand process of empowerment. The sub section illustrates the aim and purpose for choosing a qualitative research approach for the current study.
The current study explores the impact of education on women’s subjugation, with particular focus on the impact of education in dealing with gender-based violence. The pre-study literature review gives a notion of paucity of research relating to education and violence on women. Before taking up the research question a review of literature which was discussed in previous chapter, showed a lack of in-depth scientific study and an ambiguous relationship between education and violence on the women. Additionally, the researcher as an insider observed education among women has certainly paved the way for economic independence and empowerment but at the same time, the researcher, as an insider, also observed increasing feeling of being oppressed among women in society.
As stated by Creswell (2013), qualitative research is exploratory and useful, when the topic is new and has never been addressed with a certain group of people (P 20). Due to this ambiguous literature review and lack of in- depth exploration of the complex phenomenon on Indian women, the researcher chooses qualitative approach to study the question.
Indian Women today are making a difference in spite of oppressive social norms. Due to increasing female education, political participation and work participation rate of women due to new economic policy (Sara 2015) and rapid social change have changed the forms of patriarchy. To explore these new social facts and context, a researcher needs to study educated women’s behaviour, attitudes on violence, their behaviour pattern and perspective. The subjective meaning associated by the educated women to the complex phenomenon helps the researcher to understand complex process of women empowerment in India, as explained by Catherine Hakim, “Qualitative research is concerned with individuals own accounts of their attitudes, motivations and behaviour. It offers richly descriptive reports of the individuals’
perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, views and feelings, the meanings and interpretations given to events and things, as well as their behaviour” (1987, P 26). Thus, qualitative methods are well suited approach to study perspectives and perceptions and meanings associated by educated women to gender biased norms and patriarchal values and how education has influenced to construct and re-construct those meaning, perception and perspectives? (Flick 2014). Thus, Qualitative research seemed to be the most appropriate approach for the current study for the following reasons;
• As it enables the researcher to have a microscopic view on patterns of subjugation and women’s experiences and interpretations or meanings assigned by them to an act of subjugation (Hakim 1987, P 28)
• Secondly, a qualitative approach enables the researcher to understand how educated women act in their everyday lives to confront with an incident of violence (Taylor et al.2015) which further helps the researcher to assess the impact of education on their vulnerability and educated women challenging their socially ascribed status.
• Thirdly, taking into account the nature of the current thesis, qualitative data reveals complex social processes of changing realities due to various external factors such as
increasing women’s work-participation rate and also increasing women’s mobility at public places and how women and men perceive their experiences due to changing realities (Castellan 2010; Krathwohl 1998). Qualitative data also gives the researcher a microscopic view of how and why education influences patterns of subjugation. Thus, in depth investigation of attitudes, clusters and participants perception proves to be a great strength of qualitative research (Castellan 2010; Krathwohl 1998; Hakim 1987).
Following the decision of using qualitative approach for the current study, the researcher decided to conduct a study field work to explore the complex theme. The pre-study field work confirmed the observation made by the researcher. The following section defines the aim of the pre-study and difference between a pilot study and pre-study.
1.2 The Pre-Study
Unlike the conventional research process, where the study starts with a particular research design and research question, the researcher started the current study with an idea and observation. As discussed before, the previous literature on education and violence leads to an ambiguous result and needs to explore the idea further. In order to do so the researcher decided to conduct a pre-study field work. The aim of the pre-study field work was not only to explore the idea but also to develop a new interesting approach on the question of inquiry. As discussed by Swedberg: “We need to add a stage to the beginning of the process of inquiry and make it a part of the research process. The task of the researcher at the stage would come up with new ideas and to do so through an early and preliminary, yet intense, confrontation with data.”
(2014, P 25).
Before going into a deeper analysis of the rationale for undertaking a pre-study field work, it is necessary, to discuss the meaning of the concept pre-study and to differentiate between pilot study and pre-study as they both are used as a mini version before the main planned study (Swedberg 2014; Kim 2011; Prescott and Soeken 1989). However, pre-study
data analysis is formulated to explore the initial idea with an empirical evidence and to generate a theory from a pre-study data (Swedberg 2014), whereas in the pilot study, a researcher aims to collect preliminary data for a range of different other reasons such as it is conducted to evaluate the research process, questionnaires, and to identify the practical research problems during a research process (Teijlingen and Hundley 2002). As the aim of the researcher is theory-formation, the pre-study field work is conducted to decide the research design for the theory formation.
The pre-study field work was undertaken to get new insights into the problem with an aim to theorize the data as suggested by Swedberg (2014, P 26) but the pre-study data assisted the researcher to identify the practical problems of the current study. Such as in the pre-study field work only formal education was considered by the researcher, but interviews with experts and BNI revealed the impact of media and religion on Indian women. Thus, pre-study field work assisted the researcher to recognize practical problems and obstacles to make a theory all inclusive.
The pre-study data was later combined with the main-study data to form the substantive grounded theory. The field work also provided the researcher space to experiment with the data collection method in a creative way, which was further used in formulating “the theory of victimization of educated women in India”. The researcher constructed properties of the sub-core category of the substantive grounded theory during the pre-study data analysis.
Following the decision of conducting pre-study field work, the researcher choose Pune city in Maharashtra state as the field area, because it is one of the leading cultural and industrial centres of the country and it has strong roots of female education (Gandhe 2002)42. The next
42 From ‘A Study of Unemployment among Female Graduates in Pune City’. A study sponsored by Planning commission, Government of India. A study conducted by Indian Institute of Education. October 2002.
section elucidates the rationale for selecting Pune city as a field area for the pre-study field work.
1.3 Why Pune?
The interest in the industrially developed, cultural hub of Maharashtra state, Pune is due to its deep-rooted female education and its achievements in gender equality field. The researcher is born and brought up in Pune and has witnessed socio-cultural transformation in the city since the New Economic Policy of 1991. The New Economic Policy has brought employment opportunities for all castes and classes in the city. The city has witnessed growth in work participation rate for women and increase in number of women at public place. Strong roots for encouragement of female education especially at higher levels,43 due to social reform movements and efforts for women’s empowerment in the city have made Pune an ideal place for the current research.
Pune, the ninth largest city in the country has emerged as a manufacturing and IT hub.
The city is situated on the 160 Km from Mumbai on the edge of the Deccan Plateau and on the confluence of Mula-Mutha river. Pune is a multi-religious, liberal and educational hub of the country. Various nick names given to city reflect the above- mentioned peculiarities such as
‘Oxford of the East’ and ‘Pensioner's paradise’44.
Pune is also an ideal place for the research, as the researcher comes from the Pune city, she is well aware of the language and culture of the city. The language efficiency helps to gain access to many respondents who were not well versed with any other language than Marathi.
Though the city is known for its liberal values and cosmopolitan nature, the city is dominated
43 From ‘A Study of Unemployment among Female Graduates in Pune City’. A study sponsored by Planning commission, Government of India. A study conducted by Indian Institute of Education. October 2002. For more information refer to http://planningcommission.gov.in/reports/sereport/ser/stdy_femgrd.pdf.Accessed 23 December, 2017.
44 For more information, please refer to http://www.indiamarks.com/pune-the-oxford-of-the-east/ and http://www.weareholidays.com/articles/pune-history/. Accessed 23 December, 2017.
by Brahmin upper caste (Palshikar and Deshpande 2008). The researcher experienced upper caste/class domination and caste consciousness of the city while establishing contacts with respondents or prospective respondents during the study field work. Such as during pre-study field work, when the researcher invited a prospective expert respondent to participate in the study, the prospective respondent first enquired about researcher’s surname (In India, family name or surname of a person identifies with his/her caste) and the researcher refused to reveal her surname to protect any caste/class influence on an interview.
Thus, various experience of caste consciousness in the city, especially after the state has a conservative government, made it as an interesting research area to compare higher caste/class women’s education and their experience with lower caste/class experience with violence. Increasing education among women along with increasing economic participation created new social realities in the city. Thus, to understand highly educated women’s experience with violence and lower educated women’s experience with violence in caste/class conscious yet cosmopolitan society (education and caste/class association is discussed in the introductory chapter of the thesis), the researcher used Pune city as a research area.
To understand these assigned meanings to their subjugation in the cosmopolitan city and the impact of social change on women, the researcher engaged EI. Experts, who experience changes in the city and who are working with the native population for a considerable period of time, helped the researcher to form comparative categories. These categories are further illustrated with BNI to make the theory holistic.