As I was scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook today, a College Humour video popped up providing a wonderful "POV" (Point of View) take on a woman's experience visiting the Gynecologist for a routine checkup. According to a recent paper that our lab published, the video, although intended to be entertaining, does a pretty good job of covering some of the primary concerns that women have about a sexual health exam - but with one major caveat: the women in question need to be cisgender, heterosexual women for this video to apply!
Read MoreOn the Surprising Sources of Research Motivation
A year ago today I made a post on Facebook about some of the surprising places that I find the motivation to do my research. Unfortunately, in my line of research, quite often the motivation that keeps me going comes from tragedy, although it does also come from positive experiences as well. A year ago, I was uncertain of where I would find a home for my research and so the need for motivation was that much stronger. I doubt that I am alone in finding motivation from the tragedies that surround us. In fact, it seems that almost all researchers are motivated in some way by something that is "wrong" - whether that be a problem with the environment, a health condition, or, in my case, societal levels of discrimination.
Read MoreAre Close Relationships Researchers Getting Better at Using Inclusive Research Methods?
I’ve written about inclusive research practices before, and have placed an emphasis on the importance of including gender and sexual minorities in relationships research. Although psychological research in general has come a long way in being more inclusive with respect to studying topics of relevance to LGBTQ populations, close relationships research still seems to be a bit slow on the uptake. But, to be fair, it can be sometimes difficult to really judge what is currently going on in a field if one only relies on the currently published articles available in scientific journals. After all, not all research gets published, and even when it does get published, it is often years after the initial study was designed. Consequently, a survey of the most recently published close relationships articles might only provide a ‘snapshot’ of the research practices that were prevalent between 2010 and 2013 (or even earlier). Perhaps a better opportunity to get a more current snapshot of the field’s practices is by examining poster presentations at a large conference, such as the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s Annual Meeting. The advantage of examining poster presentations is that they tend to be reporting more recently conducted research and they provide a sampling of studies that have already been published, those in the process of being published, and those that will never be published (either because they get rejected or because publication just isn’t pursued).
Read More"I'm Straight. LGBTQ Participants Wouldn't Trust Me, Would They?"
Yep. I’ve heard this reason given by researchers as to why they do not include LGBTQ participants in their studies. By this logic, I suppose I shouldn’t have any heterosexuals in my studies! Ludicrous!
Read MoreExclusion Based on Vulnerable Population Status
We need to justify our use of a vulnerable population. I have heard this reason from a number of researchers, often ones who would very much like to include LGBTQ individuals in their sample, but who feel that their hands are tied in doing so because their institution or review board (or both) require that they justify the use of any subjects belonging to a ‘vulnerable population.‘
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Reasons for LGBTQ Exclusion in Research
For the most part, I often find the “reasons” touted for not including LGBTQ participants to be more along the lines of excuses.
Read MoreOn Being An Inclusive Researcher
What do I mean by “inclusive researcher”? In any research that involves human subjects (or even research that doesn’t), the process of selecting a sample is very important.
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