You can also browse the ASA Ethics Code and/or visit Lehigh University’s page
on ethical issues as supplementary materials to complete this assignment.
Carefully read the following research case:
From 1965 to 1968, Laud Humphreys, an ordained Episcopalian minister, conducted dissertation
research on men who have impersonal sex with men (Humphreys, 1970). Without disclosing his
role as a sociology researcher, Humphreys gained access to these men by volunteering to play the
role of “watch queen,” that is, he looked out for intruders while men performed oral sex on men
in the public restrooms of parks in major metropolitan areas. Because he passed himself off as a
voyeur – one who derives sexual gratification from observing the sex acts of others – he was
permitted to watch acts that occurred in bathroom stalls without doors. Among other things, he
gathered data on locations, the frequency of acts, the age of the men, the roles they played, and
whether money changed hands.
When the men left those encounters, Humphreys recorded the license plate numbers of their cars.
He then obtained their home addresses through a police department contact to track where they
lived. A year later, after changing his hair and attire, he interviewed these same men in their homes
under the guise of conducting an anonymous public health survey.
Humphreys work was influential in expanding the then limited knowledge of closeted
homosexuality (as over half of his subjects lived their public lives as heterosexual men). He
reported that he recognized the need to protect the confidentiality of his data and never published
anecdotes that included identifiers. Even though he protected his field notes carefully, he was
observing illegal behaviors and if his notes were subpoenaed he might have been arrested and
imprisoned for refusing to hand them over.
From: Ragin, Charles and Lisa Amoroso. (2019). “The ethics of social research”. In
Constructing Social Research: the unity and diversity of method. 3
rd edition, Sage Publishers. (p.
76.)
The assignment: Write a short paper answering all of the questions below. Do not repeat the
questions in your paper. Your paper should be no less than 350 words in length, roughly 1.5 double
spaced pages in a 12-point font with normal margins. Do not include a title page in your paper.
Your name, or any other information regarding this course, is not part of the 350 words. Remember that this is a formal paper. Keep your language formal and avoid contractions.
Questions:
1. What examples of research misconduct and violations of the guidelines for research
involving human subjects does this study raise? Please list the examples and explain what
the issue/problem is.
2. What methodological problems does this research have?
3. What is the key ethical problem in this study?
4. Does the study provide an example of different cultural or social world views? Please
explain your answer.
