Welcome to the Feminist Research Assessment Tool!

The purpose of this tool is to support anyone engaging in research to: (1) gain a practical awareness of what choices are being made in the knowledge-generation process and (2) reflect on how aligned a particular piece of gender-based violence (GBV) research is with a feminist methodology.

Note that COFEM’s understanding of GBV centers women and girls in all their diversities, including queer and trans women. We focus on violence experienced by women and girls for the following reasons: (1) women and girls are at greater risk of experiencing certain types of violence globally, and (2) to emphasize the underlying cause of violence against women and girls in our work: gender inequality and discrimination.

Who can use this tool?

This tool can be used by anyone for any type of gender-based violence research, whether it is your own work or an external research project. It has been optimized to be used by people familiar with research focused on gender-based violence. You may want to complete the questions as a team, as some sections require familiarity with specific aspects of the research process (e.g., research design, analysis, communications, etc.).

We acknowledge that the time and commitment to complete this survey may not be available for everyone. Please keep in mind that this survey is a resource, in whichever way works best for you/ your organization. When you are ready to complete the tool please set aside approximately one hour, or feel free to take pauses with the survey open and return to the tool as needed.

The tool will collect user input across six elements of the research process, which have been shown to be a useful wayfinding framework for thinking about the key choices made in research and helping you understand how the evidence is being generated. Each element has its own section in the tool:

● SECTION 1: Infrastructure
● SECTION 2: Purpose
● SECTION 3: Research Design
● SECTION 4: Data Collection
● SECTION 5: Analysis
● SECTION 6: Meaning Making & Interpretation

In addition, several feminist principles are cross cutting throughout the tool, particularly: decolonization, do no harm, intersectionality, and using a survivor-led approach.

[User Guide page 1 of 5]