Essay

INVESTIGATING SEXUALITY

I. RESEARCH METHODS

A. CASE STUDY

the researcher explores individual cases to formulate general hypotheses –

ex: Freud would study hysteria in only one patient, because he didn’t have several patients with similar complaints –

problem: this method does not allow researchers to generalize to the general public because the sample is extremely small –

however, the case study method may generate hypotheses that can lead to larger, generalizable studies

B. SURVEY

the researcher uses questionnaire to identify the attitudes, knowledge, or behavior of large samples –

advantage: large sample; participant may share sensitive, personal info on questionnaire because s/he is anonymous –

problem: since surveys are multiple choice/fixed choice questions, the level of the data can be superficial, so some researchers prefer to use instead (or in addition to) interviews –

advantage of interviews is that the data is more detailed and in-depth;

problem is that the participant may be too embarrassed to reveal personal info in an interview bc s/he is not anonymous

1. KINSEY

* Alfred Kinsey 1894-1956 was probably the most influential sex researcher of the 20th Century – his work changed many people’s attitudes about sexuality – he was a biologist with a PhD from Harvard who was an internationally known expert on gall wasps – in 1938, when he was a prof of zoology at IU, he was asked to coordinate a new course on Marriage and Family – before this course, human sexuality had only been discussed in hygiene courses that focused on the dangers of STI and the dangers of masturbation –

his students started coming to him with sex questions that he could not answer, and the existing lit was no help – so Kinsey started collecting data on his students’ sex lives, and then his study broadened to include other students not in his classes, faculty, friends, and nonfaculty employees -- he got grant money that allowed him to hire research assistants * his research used surveys but primarily lengthy interviews = he would collect info on each participant’s sexual life history by interviewing them – to make sure people would not lie on interview, he tried to build in checks for false info, such as comparing data from husband and wife – the interview was done again 2 and 4 years later as well – sample was 5300 white men and 5940 white women, so sample omitted minorities, all participants were volunteers – each interview consisted of a minimum of 350 questions, and the interviewers memorized the questions so instead of looking at notes they could build rapport with the participant – interviews covered 13 areas, including demographics, physical data, early sexual knowledge, adolescent sexual behaviors, masturbation, orgasms in sleep, heterosexual petting, sexual intercourse, reproductive info, gay activity, sexual contact with animals, and sexual responsiveness – his sample came from colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, mental hospitals, institutions for young delinquents, churches and synagogues, groups of people with sexual problems, gay groups in major cities, members of YMCA and YWCA – he used what he called “quota sampling accompanied by opportunistic collection,” meaning if he saw a group was underrepresented, he would add an org that would have lots of members of that group

* in 1947 Kinsey and his colleagues established the Institute for Sex Research – he published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) – the books were overnight bestsellers and debunked myths about sex – many sexual practices that had been seen as perverse were actually widely practiced, like masturbation, oral sex, gay sex –

* findings: his findings angered conservative and religious organizations – this controversy led to Kinsey losing several research grants, which frustrated him bc hard to work without money – before his death in 1956 at age 62, Kinsey worried his work was a failure – some say his early death resulted from the stress of constant criticism and him working tirelessly to legitimate sexology as a field of study

2. NHSLS

* The National Health and Social Life Survey –

* in 1987 the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services called for study on sexual attitudes and practices of American adults – this was in response to AIDS – a group of researchers from the Univ of Chicago were picked to do this national study of over 20,000, and funding was provided -- but in 1991 their funding was pulled by legislation that eliminated federal funding for studies about sexuality – however, these researchers found private funding and continued their research, based on of 3,432 Americans btw ages of 18 and 59 – all participants were interviewed face to face and supplemented with surveys * the NHSLS was the most comprehensive study of sexual attitudes and behaviors since Kinsey, and because the researchers used random sampling (better than Kinsey), this study has been viewed as the most comprehensive, scientifically accurate study of sexuality in the U.S.

* findings: Americans were more sexually conservative than previously thought – most people had sex a few times a month or less and have three sex partners over their lifetime -- sexual choices people make are restricted by their social networks, ie, family and friends

3. BELL AND WEINBERG

* Kinsey had hoped to publish a book on homosexuality, but he died before he could – he had collected a large number of case studies from gays and had learned that many people had participated in gay behavior, both in childhood and adulthood – Kinsey concluded that homosexuality was not abnormal the way that society had thought

* in 1967 the National Institute of Mental Health established a task force to study homosexuality – researchers interviewed 5,000 gay men and women, and 5,000 heterosexual men and women were used for comparison -- interviews were 528 questions – in 1978 Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg published Homosexualities

* findings: unlike society’s view that homosexuality was a psychological problem that needed to be cured, this research showed that the majority of gays do not fit the stereotypes –gays don’t push unwanted sexual advances onto people; gays don’t seduce or sexually assault kids – in fact, heterosexual men were found to be more likely to sexually abuse kids

C. ETHNOGRAPHY

* refer to our reading – study small group, either by observing as participant or nonparticipant, either overt or covert

D. LABORATORY OBSERVATION

* researchers directly observe participants in a laboratory setting – this method is used rarely because it’s hard to find participants willing to come and have sex in lab while researchers watch, but it is an excellent method in that researchers learn things otherwise may not learn – ex: man on survey or interview may exaggerate about his erections, but in lab you can’t fake it

* MASTERS AND JOHNSON

* William Masters (gynecologist) and Virginia Johnson (psychology researcher) began their research in 1954 – they were interested mainly in the anatomy and physiology of sexual response and they also explored sexual dysfunction

* findings: in 1966 they published Human Sexual Response – this was based on 700 people who were brought in to the lab to have sex, and they were paid for their participation – they were encouraged to have sex in lab before being observed in order to get used to the new surroundings – during study they were monitored for changes in heart, muscles, penile erection, and vaginal lubrication (picture) – research found that women can have multiple orgasms; sexuality does not disappear in old age; they came up with a four stage model for sexual response (excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution)

* findings: in 1970 they published Human Sexual Inadequacy – found that sexual dysfunction is often in both partners (ex: guy has trouble with erection and his woman partner has trouble too) – also found that all orgasms in women result from either direct or indirect stimulation of clit (refuted Freud’s theory that women could have vaginal orgasm with no stimulation of clit)

* Masters and Johnson used clinical medical language bc of their disciplines but also to avoid their book being censored, but many people still viewed their work as immoral

E. EXPERIMENT

* method in which the researcher closely controls all the variables in order to determine cause and effect –

this method is used very rarely in sexuality research because it’s too difficult or even impossible – ex: if you wanted to examine the effects of sexual abuse on children and how they are as adults, you could not ethically get kids and abuse them on purpose

II. DIFFICULTIES IN SEX RESEARCH

A. ETHICAL ISSUES

* since sexuality is so personal, researcher must be sure to get participant’s informed consent and also guarantee confidentiality (IRB)

B. VOLUNTEER BIAS

* people who volunteer to be in a study (especially about sexuality) may somehow differ from those who do not volunteer – in sociology this is self-selection – research has found that people who volunteer for sex studies on average tend to be more sexually liberal, more sexually experienced, more interested in sexual variety, more likely to have had sexual intercourse as well as oral sex, and have less traditional sexual attitudes than nonvolunteers

C. SAMPLING PROBLEMS

* most sexuality studies sample college-age populations for convenience, bc most researchers work at universities – problem is that college students are different many times from noncollege students of the same age and also different from people of other ages (older and younger) – so these studies miss certain groups, such as those who don’t go to college, and these studies underrepresent minorities and those with disabilities

D. RELIABILITY

* how reliable is sex research? potential problems:

* what may look like a change over time in frequency of sexual behavior may actually be a difference in reporting – ex: if study in 1995 interviews about premarital sex and finds more of it than in 1963, then is premarital sex actually on the rise, or is it that it happened in 1963 but people were less likely to admit it bc it was stigmatized more? so sex researchers have to be sensitive to time context

* many studies rely on participants remembering past behaviors, but memory may be unreliable – ex: ask 50-yr-old man when he first masturbated . . .