Doing Research on Sensitive Topics
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This book is a comprehensive guide to the methodological, ethical and practical issues involved in undertaking research on sensitive topics. Raymond M Lee explores the reasons why social research may be politically or socially contentious: its relation to issues of social or political power; its capacity to encroach on people′s lives; and its potentially problematic nature for the researcher.
Issues examined include: the choice of methodologies for sensitive research; problems of estimating the size of hidden populations; questions of sampling, surveying and interviewing; and sensitivity in access and the handling of data. The book also discusses the political and ethical issues at stake in the relations between the researcher and the researched, and in the disclosure, dissemination and publication of research.
Raymond M. Lee is an Emeritus Professor of Social Research Methods at Royal Holloway University of London. He has written extensively about a range of methodological topics. These include the problems and issues involved in research on “sensitive” topics, research in physically dangerous environments, the use of unobtrusive measures, and the role of new technologies in the research process. His current research focuses on the historical development of interviewing techniques.