Critical Sexuality Studies and Research Methodologies

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Critical Sexuality Studies and Research
Methodologies

• From Advancing Sexuality Studies a short course
  on sexuality theory and research methodologies

The International Resource Network
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Developed by

• The Caribbean International Resource Network
• Presented in collaboration with
• The Institute for Gender Development Studies at
  the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine
  (Trinidad Tobago)
• With funding from The Ford Foundation the
  International Association for the Study of
  Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS)
• Available under an Attribution, Non-Commercial,
  Share Alike licence from Creative Commons

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Schedule
Learning activity Time allowed
Introduction aims 5 mins
Session 1. What is research? Key terms and concepts Brainstorm lecture Pre-readings discussion Mini lecture 120 mins 55 mins 60 mins 5 mins
Session 2. Research matters in Critical Sexuality Studies Lecture Ethical issues group discussion small group work 120 mins 30 mins 90 mins
Session 3. Conceptualising and designing CSS research Research design diagram lecture Group work Lecture brainstorm Case Study Lectures Group Discussions 240 mins 20 mins 60 mins 45 mins 115 mins
Conclusion 5 mins
Total 480 mins
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Module aims

• To introduce participants to key terms and
  approaches within research methodologies
• To consider the intersections between ways of
  understanding the world, methodology and field
  methods, and the implications for Critical
  Sexuality Studies research in general and in the
  Caribbean
• To examine the research design process from a
  Critical Sexuality Studies perspective

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Participants will

• Develop an understanding of issues specific to
  conducting research on sexuality, including the
  ethical, political, cultural and social
  implications of sexuality as a field of inquiry
• Obtain basic familiarity with how to design a
  research project
• Be able to apply the principles of Critical
  Sexuality Studies methodologies to the
  development of a research project relevant to the
  Caribbean in co-operation with other members of
  the group

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Session 1.What is research?Key terms and
concepts
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Brainstorm

• What research experiences have you had?
  (10 mins)
• Report back to whole group
  (10 mins)
• What might be a working definition of research?
  (10 mins)
• Research from 16th century French recerche /
  recercher
• To go about seeking
• A search or investigation directed to the
  discovery of some fact by careful consideration
  or study of a subject a course of critical or
  scientific inquiry (http//dictionary.oed.com/)
  (OED online)
• research is probably one of the dirtiest
  words in the Indigenous worlds vocabulary.
  (Tuhiwai Smith, 1998 2008 1)

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Research methodology

• The view of what constitutes a methodology in
  the context of social research is a contentious
  issue
  (Sarantakos,
  1993 1994 32)
• the logical principles underlying the
  organisation of the conduct of scientific
  enquiry (Macquarie Dictionary, 1981)
• or
• The best means of acquiring knowledge about the
  world
• (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005 183)

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A CSS understanding

• Within Critical Sexuality Studies, methodology is
  understood to include ways of understanding the
  world
• Inextricably linked to ways of acquiring
  knowledge about the world
• Methodology also includes the field methods one
  chooses

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The complexity of knowledge

• Ways of understanding the world often presented
  by simplistic division between
• Most people hold elements of both, but prefer one
  over the other
• Knowledge as objective the majority in
  sexuality studies research, but this depends on
  discipline and methodology.

Knowledge as objective Knowledge as subjective
Existing outside of human experience Not context dependent Singular truth for each question fixed Within the realm of human experience Dependent on socio-cultural, historical, political, emotional, experiential context Multiple truths shifting
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Objective/subjective?

• Objective understanding of knowledge tends to
  lead to quantitative research approaches
• Counting what, who, when, where to try and
  establish causal relationships and patterns of
  association
• Subjective understanding tends to lead to
  qualitative research approaches
• Gathering opinions, beliefs, experiences,
  meanings to try and understand the why or how of
  a research topic

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Quantitative approach

• In general, a quantitative approach
• Looks for causal or law-like explanations and
  descriptions of patterns or association
• Focuses on data in numerical form, in non-natural
  settings
• Deductive works downwards and inwards from a
  hypothesis
• Requires larger samples
• Look for generalisation through obtaining large
  sample size and predicting majority trends (and
  differences)
• Main research method is survey/questionnaire
• Other methods include social network analysis
• Uses mainly statistical analysis to evaluate
  associations

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Qualitative approach

• In general, a qualitative approach will
• Seek in-depth and subjective understandings
• Focus on rich or thick description
• Smaller samples, in naturalistic settings
• Inductive works upwards and outwards from
  specific observations to broader generalisations
  and theories
• Looks for applicability of findings at
  socio-cultural process level
• Expectation that the researcher will
  bereflexive
• Many field methods, often in combination
• e.g. in-depth interviews, focus groups
  discussions, textual analysis, participant
  observation, participatory action research

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Comparison of quantitative and qualitative methods Comparison of quantitative and qualitative methods Comparison of quantitative and qualitative methods
Quantitative Qualitative
Philosophical foundation Deductive, reductionist Inductive, holistic
Aim To test pre-set hypothesis To explore complex human issues
Study plan Step-wise, predetermined Iterative, flexible
Position of researcher Aims to be detached and objective Integral part of research process
Assessing quality of outcomes Direct tests of validity reliability using statistics Indirect quality assurance methods of trustworthiness
Measures of utility of results Generalisability Transferability
Marshall (1996 524)
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CSS research

• Sexuality is an intersubjectively negotiated,
  social and historical product
• Qualitative methods seen to offer the best
  framework for interpreting sexual meanings,
  identities and categories (Gamson, 2000)
• Approach and field methods chosen in any
  particular research project will be influenced by
  the overarching methodology

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Pre-readings discussion

• Focus questions
• Kempadoo (2003) and (2009)
• List the main disciplines and methodologies
  reviewed in her essays.
• Why does Kempadoo insist upon a focus on sexual
  praxis? How does this impact research methods in
  Caribbean Sexuality Studies?
• What are the main research methods? What
  similarities or differences do we see in the
  research methods mentioned in Kempadoos and
  Sharpe and Pintos essays?
• Sharpe and Pinto (2006)
• List the main disciplines and methodologies
  reviewed in their essay.
• How have transnational approaches to Caribbean
  Sexuality Studies affected research
  methodologies?
• What is needed in the 21st century?
  

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Research design principles

• Well-designed research will
• Show a clear link between the overall
  methodology, the research approach and the field
  methods
• Be well thought through and have a precise focus
• What are the issues? Are the research questions
  well crafted?
• What do you want the project to accomplish? How
  might this be achieved?
• What dissemination plans or training might be
  needed?
• Meet with funding/grant application requirements
• Leave a paper trail, documenting all steps
  taken
• Be ethical
• What about anonymity, security, safety? For
  researchers and researched?

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Session 2. The importance (and difficulty) of
CSS research
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CSS research an overview

• CSS work is multifaceted and multidisciplinary,
  but
• Always requires a focus on the shifting
  relationships of power, knowledge, context, and
  culture
• CSS research tends towards qualitative inquiry
• Needs to be theory-driven, usually empirically
  inductive
• Many field methods, constantly evolving
• Capable of generalisation processes, practices,
  social dynamics (rarely population predictive)

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CSS research challenges

• Difficult field to research
• Site of secrecy, shame, stigma and discrimination
• Strong historical, political, legal and
  socio-cultural influences
• Complex relationship to other social phenomena,
  e.g. gender, social class/SES, ethnicity/race,
  postcoloniality/orientalism, age/generation
• Non-normativebehaviours or identities often
  heavily policed by religious and legal guardians
• Mandatory reporting requirements (e.g. knowledge
  of illegal acts)
• Ethical issues
• Human subjects research ethics
• Ethics and human rights
• Intrusiveness public health imperatives vs.
  sexual rights/privacy

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CSS research challenges (cont.)

• Enormous breadth of possible research topics,
  often occurring on a huge scale
• e.g. informal polygamy, teenage pregnancy, HIV,
  and sex work
• Rapidly changing field, e.g. globalisation,
  commodification
• Cross-cultural challenges
• Dominance of public health approach
• Quantitative research with large sample sizes
  often considered more legitimate than
  qualitative, small sample size research
• Continually perceived incommensurability between
  qualitative and quantitative approaches and
  methods
• Reliability (replicability of findings) vs.
  validity (the strength of conclusions, inferences
  or propositions)

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CSS research challenges (cont.)

• Many different disciplines involved in sexuality
  research
• Particular disciplines or intellectual approaches
  favour particular field methods and methodologies
• Social sciences and humanities
• Media and cultural studies
• Legal studies
• Womens and gender studies
• Educational research
• and others
• Government, community organizations, NGOs, etc.

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Does CSS research matter?

• Research can affect social changeknowledge is
  power
• It can be influential in encouraging and teaching
  the next generation of sexuality researchers
• Effective, recognised research can lead to
  funding, career development, publishing,
  teaching, tenure, etc.
• Institutional and professional roles are changed
  by research
• It contributes to the expansion of established
  knowledge regarding an issue or topic
• It requires consideration of relationships and
  responsibilities shared between researchers and
  the researched

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Ethical issues

• Knowledge is power, but
• Who owns it? Who gets to use it? Who holds the
  power?
• What is our relationship with, responsibility
  towards, and negotiated understanding with, those
  we are researching?
• Requires reflexivity
• Research Scenario (15 min)
• You are collecting data about sex work and
  transactional sex in the Caribbean interviewing
  people who are sex workers and those seeking sex.
  What is your responsibility to your own work as a
  researcher and to the person you are
  interviewing? How does the power shift between
  you and your interviewees a sex worker vs.
  person seeking sex?
• Report Back (15 mins)

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Activities

• Group DiscussionWe have read two to three
  review essays about the field of Caribbean
  Sexuality Studies. Create a timeline from each
  essay with a list of the major challenges,
  scholars, works, and successes in three groups
  each group assigned one of the essays.
• Writing Time and ReflectionWhat do you think
  may be most difficult when doing research on
  Sexuality and Sexualities in the place you are
  doing work? What have you learned through the
  review essays so far that eases any concerns you
  may have about engaging in Sexuality Studies?

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Session 3.Conceptualising and designing CSS
research
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Main steps in research design
Map the larger context identify the key social
issue or concern to be researched

• Research is an iterative, not linear, process
• The broad segments of a research project
  are

Define the specific research project
Fieldwork
Analysis
Develop research outputs, disseminate findings
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Starting a research project

• Identify the key social issue or concern to be
  researched (what to research) by drawing on
• The larger context
• Broad research purposes
• What do we want to achieve? Why should we do this
  research?
• Crucial audiences
• Whom do we need to reach, target and inform in
  order to meet our research purposes?
• Possible research outputs
• What might we produce, to reach our audiences and
  meet our purposes?
• Literature review
• What knowledge already exists? Where are the gaps?

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Starting a research project cont.

• Define the specific research project
• Give it a title
• Make a statement about what you are trying to do
• Bring the research focus to the fore, through the
  title
• Dont be obscure or too clever. Remember keyword
  searches!
• Define research objectives
• Define your research questions

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The larger context

• Research occurs within a web of interlinking
  fields
• Political and social
• Are conditions favourable? What types of funding
  opportunities are available, and what types of
  research are likely to get funded?
• Professional/academic
• Your work needs to fit the current agendas of
  industry, academia, and/or politics in general,
  and your discipline in particular
• It should build upon and/or develop your own
  knowledge and expertise, foster your interest and
  passion, develop your professional field or
  discipline

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Broad research purposes

• Consider
• What is the larger social problem or issue to
  which your new research project will make a
  contribution?
• e.g. gender-based violence, young people and
  sexuality, the media and sexuality etc.
• What overarching impact do you hope this research
  will have
• Bearing in mind the interlinking fields in which
  the research will occur?
• Research purposes (or aims) should be big
  picture
• Preferably just 1-2 purposes
• e.g. This research aims to broaden knowledge and
  understanding of and therefore contribute to

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Crucial audiences

• Is it important that the research be done?
• To whom? For whom?
• Do you want to create change? If so, where and
  with whom?
• Academe, colleagues in field, theorists?
• Government, policy?
• Action, programs, practices?
• Direct stakeholders, funders, agencies?
• Respondents, communities?

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Possible research outputs

• What would the research need to deliver, in order
  to reach the crucial audiences and achieve the
  research purposes?
• Will you deliver a report, training materials,
  workshops?
• Might different types of audiences require
  different types of outputs?
• Producing different kinds of outputs affects what
  kind of data or information your research needs
  to find
• Take note this may change over the life of the
  project, particularly if you undertake action
  research

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The literature review

• Why?
• An expected part of grant applications
• Sets the stage, through assessing knowledge to
  date
• Knowledge of the social problem or issue, and of
  the larger context
• Knowledge of the methodological habits or
  theories surrounding that problem or issue, as
  well as of the larger context
• Knowledge of gaps in existing literature
• Enables identification of major players,
  theories, possible publication sites, audiences

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The literature review cont.

• How?
• Searching around a topic, not just within it
• Think laterally
• Develop an up-to-date reference list, with
  academic quality citations (EndNote? Zotero?)
• Annotate readings for key themes emerging as you
  go
• Online searching of databases, manual library
  searches
• Allow the literature review to evolve with the
  research project
• The literature review is the base on which
  academic research is built

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Specific project design

• Defining the specific project
• What is its title?
• Important to be clear, succinct and precise
• One project cannot research everything what part
  of the larger social problem or issue are you
  going to research?
• e.g. in the larger social problem of issue of
  young people and sexuality, your new project will
  investigate the importance of sex education or
  first sexual activity, or experiences of
  sexual coercion, or beliefs about love and
  romance etc.
• What are its specific objectives (sometimes
  called goals)?
• What is it that you want to do e.g. develop a
  better understanding of sex education curricula
  , or uncover new knowledge about first sexual
  activity

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Research questions

• Research questions
• Connection to theory
• Provide the focus for your research
• What do you seek answers to?
• Be succinct, capture the theory in the question,
  and limit yourself to 2-4 core questions
• Relationship between questions needs to be clear
• Either sequential, additional or hierarchical
• Bear in mind the larger context and the projects
  objectives
• Research questions formulated before you consider
  the field methods
• Can be refined as methodology continues to
  develop

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Types of research questions

• Either
• Questions to be answered
• or
• Springboard to development or reconstruction of
  theory
• Open-ended questions
• Not causal or directional, use exploratory terms
  (explore, discover, investigate)
• Closed questions
• Seek to show causal link, look for definite
  answers (yes/no, points on a scale etc.)
• Core question/s ? subsidiary questions

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Group work

• Teenage pregnancy contraception case study
  (Handout A)
• Read handout
  (5 mins)
• Define
• The overall research purpose
• The crucial audiences
• A specific research issue or problem
• The possible outputs you might you aim for (based
  on the audiences)
• The broad scope (and sites) for an initial
  literature search
• The research project title
• Your project objectives
• Your project-specific research questions
  (20 mins)
• Feedback
  (10 mins)

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Next steps

• Project design methodology, approach, field
  method(s)
• No one Critical Sexuality Studies methodology,
  but all CSS research is
• Critical of objective claims to knowledge
• Attentive to the ways sexuality is invested with
  social and cultural meaning in specific contexts
• Reviewing methodology and connections between
  research design is part of the reflexive process
• Aiming for a methodologically coherent design

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The practical aspects

• Based on your research questions
• Where are you most likely to find the information
  (data) that will give you answers?
• People tend to be central to finding answers in
  sexuality research
• As individuals per se, as types of individuals,
  and/or as specifically nominated individuals
• Sometimes clusters of people are more important
  for example
• Communities (e.g. a sexual minority community)
• Sub-cultures (e.g. artists)
• Locales (e.g. a neighborhood)
• Cohorts (e.g. 15-year-old girls)
• People with distinguishing characteristics (e.g.
  people with disabilities) or
• Patterns of association (e.g. military
  hierarchies)
• Defining your research object(s) and object
  boundaries is crucial to the research process
• The space(s) in which you will be asking
  questions and collecting information or data
• Different types of research object
• Experiences

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Beyond people

• Consider looking beyond people as such, and
  towards
• Experiences e.g. particular events, places and
  times, certain issues (health, sexuality)
• Processes e.g. institutions, relationships,
  interactions
• Practices e.g. drug-taking, sexual, social,
  educational, sport
• Ideas or concepts e.g. authority, hegemony,
  pedagogy, competitiveness, stigma, racism,
  homophobia, sin, pleasure
• Useful research on all of the above could be
  carried out entirely through secondary sources
  e.g. collecting and analysing documentation

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Sampling

• Having identified your researchdata
  source(people or things), you need a sampling
  framework
• How big is your data source?
• If you are looking at 15-year-old schoolgirls,
  the number will be very large
• If you are looking at an organisations guideline
  documents, the number will be relatively small
• Is it both feasible and necessary for you to
  involve all of your data source?
• Does your approach call for a larger,
  statistically representative sample size
  (quantitative) or rich narrative data
  (qualitative)?
• Do you want to generalise outwards from the data
  source, or do you want to show relevance to a
  broader population?

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Dont forget

• Decisions on who will be involved, and in what
  capacity, should all be based on your research
  questions
• Supported by your literature review, research
  experience, key informant information etc.
• Other players in the research process. These
  include
• Those who control access to the research object
  (gatekeepers)
• Broader stakeholders (e.g. should there be an
  advisory group?)

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Choosing field methods

• What is the most suitable method for obtaining
  the data or information you require from your
  research data source?
• Decision will be based on
• Experience (yours and others)
• Feasibility
• Budget?
• Staff?
• Time?
• Research purposes, objectives and crucial
  audiences
• Flexibility and reflexivity in the field
• Disciplinary specialities

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Who uses which field methods?
Examples of research approach, method and disciplinary connection Examples of research approach, method and disciplinary connection Examples of research approach, method and disciplinary connection
Approach Field method Primary related discipline?
Qualitative Participant observation Anthropology
Textual analysis Literature / media studies
Semi-structured, unstructured or structured interview Multi-disciplinary
Life stories / narrative theory / genealogy Sociology / history
Quantitative Structured interview Multi-disciplinary
Survey Epidemiology
Experiment Psychology / sexology
Social network analysis (SNA) Psychology
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And then

• Approach and field methods determine analysis
  options
• Thematic analysis, or statistical regression?
• NVivo or SPSS? Printouts and scissors, or a
  calculator?
• Large range of analytic approaches, again, often
  chosen based on disciplinary preferences
• Regression analysis, multi-level analysis,
  analysis of variance
• Critical discourse analysis, thematic analysis,
  content analysis
• Analysis incorporated as an integral part of the
  research process (action research)?

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Ethical issues

• From the research design phase, begin to
  consider
• What possible physical or emotional risks could
  arise during the research process (including risk
  to the researchers)?
• What ethics processes will you need to go
  through?
• e.g. university, hospital, government department,
  national guidelines, NGO/INGO
• What requirements will you face?
• e.g. data storage, information to be provided to
  participants, nature of informed consent, report
  back to those involved

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Ethical issues cont.

• All processes for ethical approval require you to
  have clear, well thought-out rationale and
  methods for
• Recruitment
• Gaining informed consent (written or oral)
• In addition, researchers need to reflect on their
  moral responsibilities in terms of
• Participant safety minimisation of intrusion
• Promising confidentiality and/or anonymity
• Gaining consent

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Beyond ethics approval

• Other ethical considerations
• Staff safety (physical and emotional)
• Staff confidentiality agreements
• Report-back provisions
• Ensuring that publication or dissemination of
  research material is ethically acceptable to
  everyone involved
• Your work will be peer-reviewed. Are there
  conflicts of interest?

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Research design a review

• Iterative process
• Identify the key social issue or concern to be
  researched
• Pulling together the larger context, broad
  research purposes, crucial audiences, possible
  research outputs, literature review
• Define the specific research project
• Give it a title, define your research objectives,
  project-specific research questions
• Decide your methodology, approach, field methods,
  analysis method
• Undertake fieldwork
• Analysis
• Disseminate the findings (bearing in mind the
  crucial audiences and overall research purpose)

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Group work

• Returning to Handout A, review your research
  questions and design to date. Then identify
• People who might be involved in a research
  project, and how
• (Research data source? Gatekeepers? Advisors?)
• What research approach and field method(s) would
  you use?
• What particular ethical challenges might arise?
  (30 mins)
• Feedback
  (30 mins)

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Proposals for funding

• Large variety of funding application formats
• Considerable variation in meaning of terms used
• Methodology, method, field method, approach
  participants, subjects, co-researchers aims,
  goals, objectives, purpose
• Common requirements
• Research project title
• Background statement (social issue, brief
  literature review, theory, how you got to this
  starting point for this project)
• A cohesive, coherent project conceptualisation
  and design
• Research purpose, objectives, research
  population/people involved, sampling, ethical
  issues (and responses), approach, field methods,
  analysis, research outputs, dissemination plan

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Proposals for funding cont.

• Administrative / organisational details,
  partnerships
• Host or administering organisation
• Details of project management and financial
  oversight
• Budget and budget justification
• Rationale for involvement of project staff
  members (based on their track record)
• Procedures for ensuring ethically acceptable
  research
• Which ethics committees will you be applying to?
• What procedures will you put in place to minimise
  the potential of harm and distribute some of your
  resources?
• Timeline
• All of which takes a great deal of time to
  complete

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Dissemination

• A research project is not complete until the
  findings have been disseminated effectively
• Effective dissemination means
• Achieving the project aim by reaching the crucial
  audiences in appropriate ways
• As and where appropriate, ensuring research
  participants (and other gatekeepers/key
  informants) are kept up to date
• Crucial audiences could include
• Funding bodies
• Involved professionals
• Professional associations

• Think tanks
• Activist groups
• Other researchers

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Dissemination modes

• Different audiences, different modes of
  dissemination
• Report (interim and final)
• Essential with most funding bodies
• Executive summary or summary of recommendations
• Useful with bodies that may fund future research
• De-briefing meeting(s)
• With project researchers and advisers
• Workshops
• With participants, activists or professionals
• Newsletters
• For participants, also for professional
  organisations

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Dissemination modes cont.

• Other possible modes of dissemination
• Academic articles, professional journals, books
• Conferences
• Government briefings, funder briefings
• Community events with key speakers
• Training materials
• Radio and TV, newspapers and magazines, media
  kits
• ISBN/ISSN nos, electronic storage (e.g. list
  serves, repositories)
• Legal deposit (e.g. national libraries,
  universities, Parliament)

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Group work

• Returning to the teenage pregnancy and
  contraception research case study, develop a
  draft dissemination plan
• Again, keep in mind your
• Overall research purposes
• Crucial audiences
• Specific project objectives
• Project outputs
  (20
  mins)
• Feedback
  (20 mins)

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Conclusion

• CSS can be an emotionally (and occasionally
  legally) fraught field to research
• it is also a valuable and highly important one
• Need for well thought-out, coherent research that
  adds to our understanding of human sexuality
  within a social, cultural, political framework
• Good research can facilitate social, cultural and
  political change

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Module adapted for the Anglophone Caribbean
by Dr. Angelique V. Nixon, The Caribbean
International Resource Network Original module
created by Professor Gary W. Dowsett, Australian
Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society with
input from Dr Sean Slavin, Ms Gillian Fletcher,
Mr Murray Couch, Dr Duane Duncan and Dr Jon
Willis Caribbean short course developed by The
Caribbean International Resource Network with the
Institute for Gender Development Studies, The
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine,
Trinidad Tobago Original short course
developed by The Australian Research Centre in
Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University,
Melbourne, Australia and The International
Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture
and Society (IASSCS) With funding from The Ford
Foundation Available under an Attribution,
Non-Commercial, Share Alike licence from
Creative Commons