It'll all come out in the meta-analysis: debates about feminist methodology and the politics of childbirth

The view that women should eschew quantitative methods for more empathic ways of gathering knowledge has been criticised as subscribing to essentialist dichotomies and excluding women from arenas of power. This paper reviews recent research into childbirth which combines qualitative methods with randomised controlled trials and discusses the consequences of the choice of methodology for the politics and practices surrounding childbirth.