Exploring Challenges in Sex Research: Assumptions, Studies, and Surveys

1. Chapter 2Sex Research

2. Sexology • = the study of sexuality • Challenges: • People are often uncomfortable discussing sex • People might lie, exaggerate, or withhold info. • People are often very judgmental of sexual behaviors and attitudes. • General goal of sexology: to scientifically test our assumptions about sexuality.

3. Some examples of assumptions about sexuality . . .that could be subjects of sex research… • Watching violent pornography leads to abusive behaviors such as rape. • Alcohol increases sexual pleasure. • All women are capable of both vaginal and clitoral orgasms, and the vaginal orgasms are “superior” to the clitoral orgasms. • Married people have less sex than single people.

4. Specific goals of sexology(all Scientific research)  Understanding sexuality • Ex: how do people communicate sexual desires to their partner?  Predicting sexuality/sexual behavior • Ex: how will a specific medication influence sexual desire and/or functioning?  Controlling or influencing sexuality • To increase safe sex practices in specific populations • To develop therapies for specific sexual problems.

5. Nonexperimental Research Methods • Case Studies - in-depth study of a single subject or small group of subjects • Surveys - interviews or questionnaires given to relatively large groups of people • Direct observation - observation and recorded responses of participating subjects

6. Case studies • Examines a single subject or a small group of subjects in depth. • Subjects often are studied b/c they behave in an atypical way or have a physical or emotional disorder. • Examples of information that would be typically researched using case studies: • Research about sexual response difficulties --> case studies of people seeking treatment for these problems. • Research about sex offenders, transsexuals, incest victims, etc. has been learned • Research about the effect of alcohol consumption on sexual responsiveness --> case studies of alcoholics

7. Case studies • Advantages: 1) In-depth exploration of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings 2) Flexible research setting. Question format is typically open-ended, offering more insight into the research question. • Disadvantages: 1) Very small sample size and “atypical” cases means that it is difficult to generalize research findings to broader populations. (sampling error) 2) Human memory is often inaccurate or selective. 3) Not suitable for many kinds of research questions. (vaginal/clitoral orgasms)

8. Critical thinking question Many studies have reported an association between abnormally low levels of testosterone and decreased sexual desire in both sexes. Can case-study research clarify whether or not this association reflects a cause-and-effect relationship? If so, how? If not, why?

9. Important concept in sex research (and research in general) • EX: rapists consume (look at, collect, etc.) more violent pornography than nonrapists (this is a correlation). • This does not necessarily mean that there is a cause-and-effect relationship. For example, the type of environments that socialize a person to be a rapist might also be characterized by increased access to violent pornography. CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION

10. Surveys • Relatively large groups of people are questioned about their sexual attitudes and behaviors. • May be conducted through oral interviews or written questionnaires. • Researcher must write survey questions that are clear and concise so they won’t be interpreted differently by different people (this is harder than it sounds!). • Researcher then must identify the surveysample: this is the group of people that will be questioned in order to obtain information about a larger group (the targetpopulation) • EXs. of target populations: married adults, high school females

11. Choosing the sample populationideally, the survey sample is: • Randomly chosen • Ideally, no bias goes into selection process of research subjects. • Representative of target population • Survey sample provides an accurate representation of the larger target population. • EX: if target population is homosexual females in the U.S.: • Survey sample should reflect the larger target population--so, if 30% of lesbians in the U.S. live in the West, 30% of the survey subjects should live in the West.

12. What kinds of questions might you find in a sex research survey? • The following examples are from the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University • Can see full survey at http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/surveylinks.html

13. Demographic questions

14. Sexual behavior questions

15. More specific questions about sexual behavior

16. Questions about sexual arousal

17. Personality questions(not sexual in nature)

18. Questions that assess risk or willingness to endure unpleasant situations

19. Questionniares vs. interviews • Questionnaires • Cheaper • Faster to administer • Anonymity may encourage more honesty • Can be evaluated more objectively than interviews • Interviews • Can help clarify questions and avoid confusion. • A good interview can establish rapport with a subject that may provide more revealing responses than a paper questionnaire.

20. Advantages of surveys • Relatively inexpensive • Quick • Can obtain large amounts of data from many people - would be impossible to study so many people using case studies or in a laboratory setting.

21. Potential problems with surveys 1) Difficult to obtain a truly representative sample. 2) Nonresponse--the refusal to participate in the study 3) Self-selection bias due to participants’ willingness to respond. - there is some indication that volunteers for sex research are more sexually experienced and hold more positive attitudes toward sexuality than do nonvolunteers. 4) Demographic bias: white, middle-class subjects are overrepresented in sex research. 5) Accuracy issues--are survey respondents telling the truth? Do they remember their experiences correctly?

22. Examples of well-known sex surveys • The Kinsey Reports (published in 1948 on men, 1953 on women) • Most famous (especially now, since the film about Kinsey’s life) * Definitely was not a representative sample of U.S. • All subjects were white • Disproportionately greater # of educated, urban, younger Protestants • All subjects were volunteers • Although > 50 years ago, and not representative, some of the data is still relevant today. • Homosexuality/heterosexuality as continuum, not all-or-none. • Frame of reference with which to compare sexual behavior and attitudes today.

23. Examples of well-known sex surveys • The National Health and Social Life Survey (1994) • U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and U. of Chicago. • In response to beginning of AIDS epidemic in the 1980s to learn about sexual practices of American adults. • Funding pulled by neoconservative Congress in early ‘90s and had to be replaced by (much less) private funding. • Most representative U.S. sex survey to date • Revealed some correlations between ethnicity and sexual practices (see next slide)

24. From National Health and Social Life Survey: Sex with more than one partner in last year (%) 15.1 27.1 19.9% Noncohabitational sex partner of same ethnic group >90% >90% ~50% Table 2.2 Ethnicity and Sexual Practices

25. Examples of well-known sex surveys • Youth Risk Behavior Survey • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) • Conducted across U.S. among high school students every 2 years • In 2005 YRBS, 14,000 students participated • Let’s look at some examples of the type of data generated by these surveys…

26. 100 80 54.1 60 53.0 53.1 49.9 48.4 1 46.8 46.7 45.6 Percent 40 20 0 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 Percentage of High School Students Who Ever Had Sexual Intercourse, 1991 – 2005 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, 1991 – 2005

27. 100 80 1 63.0 62.8 58.0 56.8 57.9 54.4 52.8 60 46.2 Percent 40 20 0 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 Percentage of High School Students Who Used a Condom During Last Sexual Intercourse, 1991 – 2005 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, 1991 – 2005

28. Discussion question: What kinds of things do you think people might lie about on a survey? Why?

29. Let’s go back to the examples of assumptions about sexuality . . . • Watching violent pornography leads to abusive behaviors such as rape. • Has been addressed by a number of surveys • Results indicate that exposure to sexually violent media can lead to increased tolerance for sexually aggressive behavior, greater acceptance of myth that women want to be raped, desensitization to violence against women, and increased probability of committing a rape. • Alcohol increases sexual pleasure. • All women are capable of both vaginal and clitoral orgasms, and the vaginal orgasms are “superior” to the clitoral orgasms. • Last two assertions aren’t well addressed by survey--can people really remember accurately enough? These are better addressed by direct observation . . .

30. Direct Observations • Researchers observe and record responses of participating subjects. • Less common in sex research than other research areas due to very personal nature of sexual expression. • Advantage: eliminates issues of data falsification; data can be stored easily. • Disadvantage: how much is subject’s behavior influenced by any kind of observation? • Most famous example in sex research: Masters and Johnson (1966) (we’ll study what they learned in Chp. 6) • Studied 10,000 sexual response cycles in a laboratory setting to understand arousal and orgasm. • Recorded many physiological changes in response to a variety of stimulation; followed with extensive interviews.

31. Experimental Research • Experimental research is conducted in precisely controlled laboratory conditions • Can be used to ask experimental questions • The independent variable is manipulated, and changes in the dependent variable are measured. • EX: does comprehensive sex education reduce the rate of unplanned teen pregnancies? • EX: are rapists more likely to exhibit sexual arousal in response to violence? • EX: does alcohol decrease sexual responsiveness? • Here: the independent variable would be: ___________________ • The dependent variable would be: ______________________ Alcohol intake Sexual responsiveness

32. Experimental Research • So how is sexual responsiveness or arousal measured in a laboratory?

33. Technologies in Sex Research • Electronic devices for measuring sexual arousal • penile strain gauge measures slightest change in penis size • vaginal photoplethysmograph measures increased vaginal blood volume • Vaginal or rectal myographs measure muscular activity in the pelvic area • See Fig. 2.1

34. Experimental Research (cont.) • Advantages • lowers the influence of other variables (controlled environment) • can make cause-effect conclusions • Disadvantages • being measured may affect actions • artificiality of laboratory setting

35. Ethical Guidelines for Human Sex Research • No pressure or coercion for participation • Informed consent and right to refuse to participate • Confidentiality and anonymity • Question of deception • If deception must be used, a postexperiment debriefing must explain why it was necessary. • Institutional ethics review

36. Evaluating Research: Some Questions to Ask • Why was the research done? Who did the research? What biases are there? • Who were the subjects? How were they selected & assigned to groups? • How was the research conducted? What methods were used? • Where was the research reported? What additional support is there?

37. Review:Sexology Research Methods Table 2.1 A Summary of Research Methods