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| Friday, 13 January 2006: 10:00 AM-11:45 AM | |||
| Methodological Innovations in Research on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Populations | |||
| Organizer: | James I. Martin, PhD, New York University | ||
| Using Technology to Enhance Research with Hidden Populations John D. Matthews, PhD, Elizabeth Cramer, PhD | |||
| Life History Calendars: An Innovative Data Collection Technique for Assessing Sexual Risk Behaviors and Sexual Identity Development among Sexual Minority Youth Colleen M. Tracey, MSW | |||
| Methodological and Ethical Challenges in Research with Men Who Have Sex with Men in Chennai, India Peter A. Newman, PhD, Venkatesan Chakrapani, MD | |||
| Abstract Text: Although social science research has already benefited members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations by increasing their visibility and challenging existing prejudicial beliefs that marginalize them, such research is still relatively new. According to D'Augelli (2003), the next wave of research in this area must “attempt to answer more sophisticated questions in more rigorous ways” (p.xxi). Similarly, Swindell and Pryce (2003) charged that future research on lesbians should be based on more complex models that contain modifying and mediating factors in order to go beyond simple description of sub-populations. Meezan and Martin (2003) stated that as social work research on LGBT populations matures it must find ways to obtain greater diversity in its samples and test more complex theoretical constructs, presumably through innovations in research methodology. In this way research can contribute to improvements in the way in which services are conceptualized and delivered to members of these populations. This proposed symposium will examine some ways in which social work researchers have attempted to meet the aforementioned challenges. The three presentations that comprise the symposium explain some innovative sampling strategies and data collection methods and uses of new technology in research on LGBT populations. Each presentation will illustrate the use of these innovations in recent studies varying with respect to their problem focus and populations of interest. All of the studies examined hard-to-reach populations facing significant social problems; gay adoptive parents, men who have sex with other men in southern India, and sexual minority youth. In this symposium attendees will learn about advances in epidemiological research and theoretical constructions of risk behaviors related to HIV, and ways in which research methods have been used to empower gay adoptive parents. Through demonstrations of technology and illustrations of methods, they also will learn how to use the Life History Calendar and videoconferencing for data collection, web-based applications for empowering research participants, and respondent-driven and time-space sampling strategies. | |||
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See more of Meeting the Challenge: Research In and With Diverse Communities (January 12 - 15, 2006)