ould it be that the questions researchers ask about sexuality are more important than the answers? Some researchers believe so, and research indicates that our questions about sexuality may indeed shape our thoughts (Ericksen, 1999). The following is an excerpt from Julia Ericksen’s Kiss and Tell, a book that explores human sexuality research.
Sexual behavior is a volatile and sensitive topic, and surveys designed to reveal it have both great power and great limits. By revealing the private behavior of others, they provide a way for people to evaluate their own behavior and even the meaning of information the surveys produce. And they provide experts with information they urgently seek to understand society and develop social policy. Social scientists often view surveys as providing hard facts about be-
havior, yet results are limited by researchers’ often unrecognized preconceptions about what the important questions are and also by respondents’ ability and willingness to reveal what they have done. (p. 2)
We learned in Chapter 1 that for most of Western history, our religion determined the appropriate standards for sexual behavior. However, sexuality researchers became the experts in the 20th century as they helped define what was considered "normal." Sexuality researchers have great power over the research they are involved in. Do you think that sexuality researchers approach their studies with ideas of what they will find? Where do these ideas come from? Could these ideas bias their research? Are researchers shaped by past research?
Source: Ericksen (1999).