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Chapter 3 sex research

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Chapter 3 Sex Research
Important names that made great advances in sex research: Kindsey, Masters, Johnson
Many different types of research; basically varying in the following:
1. How sexuality is measures (self-reports, observations, biological measures)
2. Whether large (surveys) or small numbers of people are studied (laboratory,
qualitative studies)
3. Whether the studies are conducted in the laboratory or in the field
4. Whether sexual behavior is studies as it occurs naturally or it is manipulated in
an experiment
Understanding techniques helps evaluating studies
Measuring Sex
Multiple methods are available, including self-reports, behavioral measures, implicit
measures, and biological measures
Self-Reports
Most common method
Participants are asked questions about their sexual behavior
Also used to measure attitudes about sexuality
Can be collected on paper questionnaires, in interviews, and online
Behavioral Measures
Direct observation= the scientist directly observes the behavior being studied
o E.g., Moser observed S/M interactions in semipublic settings (1998); Masters
and Johnson observed intercourse and masturbation in laboratory studies
(1966)
Eye-tracking= a device measures the participant’s point of gaze over time
o Participants in the laboratory wear eye-tracking devices that measure while
they are shown pictures on a computer
o E.g., adult men were shown photos of a front-posed naked woman, with
multiple different breast sizes and wait-to-hip ratios to answer where men look
first look first at breasts or wait (not the genitals)
Using police reports to study illegal sexual behavior
o E.g., looking at statistics reported by the FBI to study sexual assault or rape
o Problem: it only detects cases that are reported to the police
Implicit Measures
New measures, besides self-reports, measuring attitudes about sexuality
o E.g., Implicit Association Test (IAT)= measures and individual’s relative
strength of association between different pairs of concepts
Key to measuring: reaction time, measured on a computer in
milliseconds
Advantage: people can’t fake their reaction times

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Important experiment measured the association between math and gender result:
people have an implicit association between math and males but not math and females
Another study measured attitudes about condom use determined if participants had a
stringer association between condoms and pleasant or unpleasant
Biological Measures
Masters and Johnson (1966) pioneered the biological measurement of sexual response
Genital measures= assess arousal by using devices that measure erection in males and
vaginal changes in females
o Males: penile plethysmography= a flexible loop placed around the penis
measuring changes in circumference
Can be used to measure response to pictures in different categories
o Females: vaginal photoplethysmograph= optically measures blood flow to the
vagina
MRI and fMRI are increasingly used
o MRI= looks at anatomy, like size/shape of brain regions or genitals, by using
magnets to send and receive signals (e.g., can show internal clitoris structure)
Strength: it is noninvasive
o fMRI= looks at brain activity by measuring relative levels of blood flow (e.g.,
mapping the sexual brain)
Lot of “noise” in the data, statistical analyses required to get patterns
Measuring pupil dilation
o Devices measure the amount; pupils dilate when looking at something
interesting/arousing
o E.g., used in sex offenders to see if they are interested in children
Issues in Sex Research
Sampling
Identifying the appropriate population and take a sample from there
Results from random or representative sample can be generalized to the population
1. E.g., probability sampling
Problem: if the sample consist only of adolescents, e.g., parents have to
agree; therefore, they have certain characteristics
Three phases of a typical sampling process:
1. Identifying the population
2. Adopt a sampling method
3. Conduct and ask the people in the sample to participate
Problem of refusal or nonresponse= problem that some people will
refuse to participate in a sex survey, thus making it difficult to study a
random sample
Results in studying volunteers; may lead to volunteer bias (=
those who are in the sample are volunteers who may in some
ways differ from those who refuse to participate)

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Chapter 3 – Sex Research • • • Important names that made great advances in sex research: Kindsey, Masters, Johnson Many different types of research; basically varying in the following: 1. How sexuality is measures (self-reports, observations, biological measures) 2. Whether large (surveys) or small numbers of people are studied (laboratory, qualitative studies) 3. Whether the studies are conducted in the laboratory or in the field 4. Whether sexual behavior is studies as it occurs naturally or it is manipulated in an experiment Understanding techniques helps evaluating studies Measuring Sex • Multiple methods are available, including self-reports, behavioral measures, implicit measures, and biological measures Self-Reports • • • • Most common method Participants are asked questions about their sexual behavior Also used to measure attitudes about sexuality Can be collected on paper questionnaires, in interviews, and online Behavioral Measures • • • Direct observation= the scientist directly observes the behavior being studied o E.g., Moser observed S/M interactions in semipublic settings (1998); Masters and Johnson observed intercourse and masturbation in laboratory studies (1966) Eye-tracking= a device measures the participant’s point of gaze over time o Participants in the laboratory wear eye-tracking devices that measure while they are shown pictures on a computer o E.g., adult men were shown photos of a front-posed naked woman, with mult ...
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