Question

Laud Humphreys’s research on homosexual activities in men’s restrooms became a famous case of ethical controversy in social scientific research. What about Humphreys’s research was ethically questionable? a. Humphreys used license plate numbers to target their homes and interview the men without disclosing the real subject of his study. b. Humphreys was not a homosexual. c. Humphreys told research participants he was a sociologist. d. Humphreys asked individuals to participate in his study.

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is a. Humphreys used license plate numbers to target their homes and interview the men without disclosing the real subject of his study.

Explanation:

Laud Humphreys (1930-1988) was a sociologist who for his PhD dissertation wrote a study called Tearoom Trade (1968), where he studied the behavior of males who engaged in homosexual sex in public toilets. Humphreys made a series of discoveries, like finding out that most of the men who engaged in these practices were not openly or overtly homosexual, and even a majority of them (54%) were married. However, his research was widely criticized because of how he performed it. Humphreys acted out as a sort of look-out for the men in the toilets, but without disclosing his identity as a researcher. Moreover, Humphreys followed the unwitting subjects of his study to their homes by tracking their license plate numbers and interviewed them, posing as a government health officer and hiding his true identity as a sociologist conducting research. Lying to subjects and hiding from them that they're part of a study is frowned upon by the scientific community, so the research was widely controversial, and it's still brought up as an example of the ethics of social research.