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Research Ethnics (Ethical Principles in Scientific Research (Anonymity-…
Research Ethnics
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An Ethical Controversy
Robert Allen "Laud" Humphreys who published his Ph.D. dissertation, Tearoom Trade in 1970. He made an account of anonymous male homosexual encounters in public toilets in parks- a practice known as "tea-rooming" in U.S. gay slang. Humphreys knew the majority of the participants were heterosexual men who lived a family life. Humphrey was a lookout person while 2 other men engaged in sexual acts in case someone showed up in the restroom. He conducted his field observations for his dissertation.
Participants did not want to be interviewed or have their personal identities reveal. Humphrey wrote down license plate numbers of the participants' cars, track down their names and addresses from public databases. He also showed up to these men homes where he disguised himself where he would not be recognized and said he was conducting a survey. While conducted the survey, he collected personal data that was not available.
Humphreys' research gained controversy within the scientific community. Some critics said he should not have invaded the participants' privacy, having participants believe he was only a watch queen and not a researcher. Some say the tearoom activity was fine since it is a public area but Humphrey followed up with participants to do interviews under false pretenses which is unethical.
Other researchers believed Humphrey did the right thing to collect data and that everything was harmless. Humphrey never disclosed the subjects' identity to anyone and this controversy was never resolved.