1st Edition
Handbook for Conducting Research on Human Sexuality
Human sexuality researchers often find themselves faced with questions that entail conceptual, methodological, or ethical issues for which their professional training or prior experience may not have prepared them. The goal of this handbook is to provide that guidance to students and professionals interested in the empirical study of human sexuality from behavioral and social scientific perspectives. It provides practical and concrete advice about conducting human sexuality research and addresses issues inherent to both general social scientific and specific human sexuality research.
This comprehensive resource offers a unique multidisciplinary examination of the specific methodological issues inherent in conducting human sexuality research. The methodological techniques and advances that are familiar to researchers trained in one discipline are often unfamiliar to researchers from other disciplines. This book is intended to help enrich the communication between the various disciplines involved in human sexuality research. Each of the 21 self-standing chapters provides an expert overview of a particular area of research methodology from a variety of academic disciplines. It addresses those issues unique to human sexuality research, such as:
* how to measure sexuality variables;
* how to design studies, recruit participants, and collect data;
* how to consider cultural and ethical issues; and
* how to perform and interpret statistical analyses.
This book is intended as a reference tool for researchers and students interested in human sexuality from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, family science, health communication, nursing, medicine, and anthropology.
Biography
Bernard E. Whitley Jr., Michael W. Wiederman
"This very welcome addition to the literature is a comprehensive resource that delineates important issues inherent in conducting human sexuality research, while providing a thoughtful examination of approaches to address them. Its investigative and prescriptive tones are well-balanced and the text quite skillfully walks that fine line between providing a methodological primer for the sexuality research novice and a critical review for the established sexuality researcher....The chapters have an honest, critical, and educational tone, reviewing limitations of suggested approaches, offering other suggested readings and sources, and never positioning themselves as the last word on a topic."
—Archives of Sexual Behavior"...this book provide[s] a creditable review of experimental design and analysis as well as regression and covariance structure modelling."
—Journal of the Royal Statistical Society"this is a volume that should be on the shelves of any sex researcher or sex researcher-in-training....Every chapter contains a wealth of information....It is valuable either as a reference source or as a book to read from cover to cover."
—Contemporary Psychology APA REVIEW OF BOOKS"This book represents a significant contribution to the field. There is a burgeoning need for good sex research, and this is an excellent guide. I am impressed with the quality of the scholarship and contributing editors. This is an invaluable resource and highly recommended for all sex researchers."
—Eli Coleman
University of Minnesota"...it will make a contribution, and it will set the standard for other books on methods of sexuality research...I would certainly purchase the book myself and require it of students working under my direction in conducting sexuality research."
—Clive M. Davis
Syracuse University
