Increasingly, the importance of reflexivity has been acknowledged in higher education research. In this paper, I reflect on my experience of researching lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) university students in Hong Kong. The focus is not on the findings that emerge from the in-depth interviews conducted per se, but on the methodological reflections of the research process itself. Particularly, I focus on the notion of ‘vulnerability’ in the qualitative research literature which suggests that some study topics are particularly sensitive and some interviewees are especially vulnerable. I argue that because LGBT students in Hong Kong live under the governance of family biopolitics and the colonial legacy of religious dominance in secondary education, they are subjected to enormous social pressure to reject or conceal their LGBT identities. In that sense, they can be conceived as vulnerable interview subjects. However, LGBT students, especially those who are in the closet, redefined the interview as an occasion to ponder their identity struggles, and to release problems and worries that in everyday life they can share with no one. For some LGBT students, knowing of the very existence of the research itself and participating in the research were empowering. The LGBT students had the capacity to shape the meanings of the interview, thus, they were far from being completely vulnerable. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself as a researcher in a relatively vulnerable position, feeling emotionally overwhelmed by the research and feeling guilty of not doing ‘enough’ for the LGBT students. This paper argues that although researchers need to continue to pay attention to the ethics of conducting culturally sensitive research, the vulnerability of some interview subjects should not be overestimated. Otherwise researchers risk further silencing the voices of those who are already socially marginalized. I also contend that qualitative research should acknowledge researchers’

This thesis investigated the process of gender construction in kindergartens by considering the unique roles of different socialization agents. Participants were 40 4-year-old Hong Kong Chinese children (21 girls and 19 boys) enrolled in four local kindergartens and their four female teachers. Over a period of ten months, 105 visits to these kindergartens were made and 235 hours of systematic observations focusing on social interactions among the target children, their teachers and their peers were analyzed. Participants were also interviewed, in individual sessions, to discern their personal theories about gender. Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate.
Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate

Subordinate femininity associated with feminine Japanese has been found to pose barriers for foreign language learners of Japanese, especially among Western female learners of Japanese. The present study investigates attitudes towards the use of both masculine and feminine Japanese among non-native professional speakers of Japanese. The latter's experiences can enlighten language educators in their efforts to help struggling learners cope with using language loaded with traditional gender roles and gender inequality. Data from interviews with male and female professionals who use Japanese in the courses of their work in Japanese companies in Hong Kong were used to study the problems posed by 'masculine' and 'feminine' Japanese for foreign learners of Japanese. It was found that Hong Kong professionals often use masculine and feminine Japanese in order to gain native-speaker status in the language. The study has implications not merely for the teaching of Japanese as a foreign language but also for the teaching of gendered aspects of foreign languages generally, especially when professional identity and status are involved.
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