Using Email Interviews to Understand Autistic Experiences

To date, feminist criminology has somewhat ignored the significance of disability within research and theorisation, and more generally, autistic women have been underrepresented in qualitative research. Whilst available research shows that autistic women face elevated risk of victimisation, there is a lack of understanding surrounding this issue and their actual experiences and providing adequate support to this group. This chapter reflects upon a postgraduate study methodology which set out to address this gap in the literature by exploring the experiences of support services for autistic women who have been victimised in Scotland. Based on growth in digital technologies and online communication, new and different possibilities have transpired for conducting qualitative social science research. With this, email interviewing as an online research method has gained traction. This study used email interviews to inclusively engage with autistic women to facilitate deep reflective accounts of their experiences of support, and this chapter will reflect on this method. In doing so, it will outline the background to the research and the process of email interviewing in practice. It will then discuss the potential benefits and limitations of email interviewing in the context of autism research, offering methodological insights to inform future research practice.