Current Item M2D2: Ethical Issues in the Social Sciences

Ethical Issues in Social Sciences
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The tea room trade
This is a research conducted by Humphrey in the 1960s, in which he was studying homosexuals in public restrooms called tearooms. He would act as a look out man to these men and warn them if anyone was approaching, however, the men had no idea he was a researcher. Other than the men he watched, Humphrey spoke to other men about his research and he would ask them questions pertaining this kind of relationship. Without any consent, he would get their licence plate and track their home addresses. He showed up a year later as a totally different person, with a new role of a social health researcher. He then interviewed these men and got information on their marital status, occupation, sexual orientation and sexuality. With this information he concluded his research by rating the number of men that were bisexual, homosexual and those that were homosexuals without their wives’ awareness. His book got a lot of criticism and ethical issues that these men would feel stigmatized and even be arrested if anyone ever found out who they were. Such a relationship in 1960s was a crime in most parts of the U.S. (Lenza, 2004).
Basic ethical principles
The tea room trade research involved observation of cases in a public space through participation of the researcher in getting information from the subjects. Humphrey observed the men and their culture and made records about them, and later on came up with a conclusion on the number of homosexuals and bisexual men. There were interviews conducted on some of the men over a period of time. This ethnographic study design did not meet the basic ethic principles of research. There was no respect for the subjects used. Humphrey may have gotten consent from the few men he interviewed, but the respect is lost when he got their licence plate and got their home addresses, and came on to them for the second time as a different person (Jharna Mandal A. H., 2011). Autonomy was not given to this man, and there was no informed consent. He interviewed them without revealing the real intent of his study. Beneficence was also not met in this study since beneficence involves respecting the persons wellbeing and ensuring no harm, and maximizing benefits and minimizing harm. Humphrey`s study would have stigmatized the men and led to these...