Sharif Haider - Sensitive Research in Social Work

Farberow ()

Farberow () treats taboo topics as sensitive.

Sieber and Stanley (, P. 49)

[S]tudies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research. For example, a study that examines the relative broad social implications and thus can be considered socially sensitive. Similarly, studies aimed at examining the relation between gender and mathematical ability also have significant social implications.

Renzetti and Lee (, P. ix)

A sensitive research topic is intimate, discreditable or incriminating. They are laden with emotion or which inspire feelings of awe or dread (Lee, , 6).

Lee (, P. 4)

Research which potentially poses a substantial threat to those who are or have been involved in it.

Wellings et al. (, P. 256)

If it requires disclosure of behaviours or attitudes which would normally be kept private and personal, which might result in offence or lead to social censure or disapproval and /or which might cause the respondent discomfort to express.

Campbell (, P. 33)

Campbell () asserts sensitive topics are often difficult topics such as trauma, abuse, death, illness, health problems, violence, crime that spawn reflection on the role of emotions in research (33).

Barnard (, P. 2)

A sensitive research project deals with socially charged and contentious areas of human behaviour.

Dickson-Swift et al. (, P. 11)

The sensitive research has the potential to impact on all of the people who are involved in it the potential harm to the researchers conducting the research as well as to the research participants taking part.

Liamputtong (, P. 46)

I refer to the vulnerable, difficult-to-access and hidden populations of several social groups: Homeless people, children and adolescents, older people, people with disabilities, chronically and terminally ill persons, women who have experienced violence such as rape and domestic violence, female and male sex workers, gay men and lesbians, indigenous populations, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the mentally ill, illicit drug users and dealers, and those who are affected by stigmatised diseases such as mental illness and HIV/AIDS. The list is not exhaustive, but these groups of people are often hard to reach; they are the silent, the hidden, the deviant, the tabooed, the marginalised and hence invisible populations in society A closely related issue with vulnerable and marginalised people is the concept of sensitive research I would include issues like miscarriage, abortion, exploitation of the marginalised, the critically ill, being old, children who work as prostitutes and so on, as sensitive research.