Theoretical issues, studies and explanations Flashcards
What is an ethical issue?
Problems that relate to the morality of your research or research method.
What is informed consent?
Subjects must be able and willing to give informed consent to being part of the research project. In some covert observations, the participants are unaware they are part of a study, and ethical guidelines are ignored.
What is an example of the ethical guidelines being ignored in covert observations?
Laud Humphreys’ Tea Room Trade study.
Why do ethical guidelines need to be ignored with covert observations?
Arguably, unethical, and covert studies are needed to reduce the Hawthorne Effect. If respondents know they are being studied, they are less likely to act and behave in a normal manner. People are more likely to hold back, and this can impact the validity of the research. Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Factory.
What is the right to withdraw?
If a participant wishes to leave a study at any time, they must be released
What is protection of the participant?
The Researcher must ensure the safety, health, and wellbeing of the participant at all times.
What is confidentiality and privacy?
Its important researchers protect the personal details of a participants. Focus group discussions cause problems in relation to confidentiality. A researcher cannot guarantee confidentiality and privacy, as other participants are likely to leave the study and discuss their experiences with friends and families.
What study struggled with confidentiality?
Stephen Frosh et al (2002).
What is a vulnerable group?
Some groups (children, disabled, mentally ill) need extra care and support during the research process. It’s important the researcher considers the needs of each participant, for example informed consent from parents and carers, two researchers in the room etc
What study exploited a vulnerable group?
Dr Money, used their position to exploit vulnerable groups, David Reimer.
What is the Tuskegee experiment?
This study was conducted 1932 in Macon County, Alabama, and included 600 African American men, including 399 diagnosed with syphilis. The participants were told they were diagnosed with a disease of “bad blood.” Penicillin was distributed in the 1940s as the cure for the disease, but unfortunately, the African American men were not given the treatment because the objective of the study was to see “how untreated syphilis would affect the African American male.
What did Laud Humphrey’s study in 1970?
Laud Humphrey’s The Tea Room Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places (1970).
Laud Humphreys had a suspicion that sex between men was occurring in public places. To understand this secret behaviour, he served as a “lookout” or “watch queen” and gained mens’ trust in a variety of public restrooms, which he called “tearooms.” Humphreys then recorded these mens’ license plate numbers, utilized a contact at the police department, and tracked them down at their homes a year later under the guise of a social health surveyor. He interviewed the subjects to understand their motivation, what types of work they did, and their marital status. In the course of his interviews, he also discovered that only 14% self-identified as homosexual
What did Howard Parker and his colleagues study?
The Normalization of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use,
The overall aim of the study was to assess how ‘ordinary’ young people growing up in England in the 1990s developed attitudes and behaviours in relation to the unprecedented ready availability of drugs, alongside other consumption options such as alcohol and tobacco.
issues with confidentiality
What did Babbie 2004 argue for Humphrey’s use of ethical issues?
Babbie (2004) writes about how this study has pushed researchers to constantly hold themselves responsible for the well-being of their subjects.
Why did Humphrey’s have to use covert observation?
Humphreys defended concealing his identity and purpose because of the greater scientific knowledge he was able to obtain about this hidden social world. He knew the men’s behaviour would change if they knew he was a researcher writing about informal sexual encounters in public places.
