Critical Sexuality Studies and Research Methodologies

From Advancing Sexuality Studies: a short course on sexuality theory and

research methodologies

The International Resource Network

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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ScheduleLearning activity Time allowed

Introduction & aims 5 mins

Session 1. What is research? Key terms and conceptsBrainstorm & lecturePre-readings discussionMini lecture

120 mins55 mins60 mins

5 mins

Session 2. Research matters in Critical Sexuality StudiesLectureEthical issues: group discussion; small group work

120 mins30 mins90 mins

Session 3. Conceptualising and designing CSS researchResearch design diagram & lectureGroup workLecture & brainstormCase Study Lectures & Group Discussions

240 mins20 mins60 mins45 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 world’s 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)

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 experienceNot context dependentSingular truth for each question; fixed

Within the realm of human experienceDependent on socio-cultural, historical, political, emotional, experiential contextMultiple 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 be‘reflexive’

• 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

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 Pinto’s 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-normative’behaviours 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• Women’s and gender studies• Educational research • and others…

• Government, community organizations, NGOs, etc.

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Does CSS research matter?

• Research can affect social change—knowledge 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)

Activities• Group Discussion:

We 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 Reflection:What 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

• Research is an iterative, not linear, process

– The broad ‘segments’ of a research project are:

Develop research outputs, disseminate findings

Analysis

Fieldwork

Define the specific research project

Map the larger context & identify the key social issue or concern to be researched

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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.

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• 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• Don’t 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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• 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

The literature review

The literature review cont.

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• 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 project’s objectives

– Research questions formulated before you consider the field methods

• Can be refined as methodology continues to develop37

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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

• E.g. Events, places and times, histories, experiences of certain issues (health, sexuality)– Processes

• E.g. institutions, relationships, interactions41

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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 research‘data 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 organisation’s 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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Don’t 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

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…

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

Proposals for funding cont.

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• 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 complete54

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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

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 Networkwith 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 FoundationAvailable under an Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike licence from Creative Commons