Deck 2: Understanding Human Sexuality: Theory and Research

Question 1

Is sexuality research as valid and reliable as other areas of research? Explain.

Answer 1

The current research on sexuality is not as valid and reliable when compared to the research being conducted in other areas. Research requires well defined parameters as can be modified and subjected to controlled variables. The experimental subjects or material should have a high degree of uniformity for certain parameters and the effect of a variable should induce quantifiable effect.
Sexuality has a high degree of individual variations and is influenced by multiple factors. This limits research in the area as defining controlled conditions and variables is difficult. Hence, the current research on sexuality requires more time to be as refined as the research in several other areas.

Question 2

Do you think that people would be more honest about their sex lives if they were filling out an anonymous questionnaire or if they were being interviewed by a researcher? Which method of research do you think yields the highest degree of honesty? With which method would you feel most comfortable?

Answer 2

The views on sexuality are largely considered personal and matters of discrete discussions. Thus, volunteers participating in research on sexuality would prefer to be anonymous rather than their identities being made public.
Questionnaires would make the participants in research on sexuality to be more comfortable, thus resulting in honest answers. Interviews might not attract sufficient number of participants and also has a risk of obtaining biased answers. Thus, questionnaires would be more preferable than interviews as the research method for studies on sexuality.

Question 3

Why do you think couples might have volunteered to be in Masters and Johnson's study? Would you have volunteered for this study? Why or why not?

Answer 3

Masters and Johnson were pioneers in conducting experiments to understand sexuality. They used human subjects participating in sexual activity in laboratories and the studies gave many insights into several aspects of sexuality.
Personally consider sexual act as a private activity and would not be comfortable in enacting sexual activities as a recorded procedure. Thus, I would not have volunteered for the type of study conducted by Masters and Johnson.

Question 4

If you could do a study on sexuality, what area would you choose? What methods of data collection would you use? Why? How would you avoid the problems that many sex researchers face?