Conducting sexualities research: an outline of emergent issues and case studies from ten Wellcome-funded projects

Abstract

This letter seeks to synthesise methodological challenges encountered in a cohort of Wellcome Trust-funded research projects focusing on sexualities and health. The ten Wellcome Trust projects span a diversity of gender and sexual orientations and identities, settings; institutional and non-institutional contexts, lifecourse stages, and explore a range of health-related interventions. As researchers, we originate from a breadth of disciplinary traditions, use a variety of research methods and data sources. Despite this breadth, four common themes are found across the projects: (i) inclusivity, representations and representativeness, (ii) lumping together of diverse groups, (iii) institutions and closed settings (iv) ethical and governance barriers.

Sexual minority health inequalities — why are we unable to do more?

“…The knowledge gaps in health of older SGM individuals are more apparent due to the paucity of data in older cohorts. Most research on older SGM individuals relies on data from surveys like the General Practice Patient Survey [2,11]. These are informative as a 'first step' in examining the differences in prevalence of health conditions and access to healthcare and designing more comprehensive research questions and projects.…”

Lesbian and bisexual women's experiences of aversion therapy in England

“…There are numerous challenges in conducting research about sexualities and health ( Kneale et al , 2019 ). This section focuses on some of the difficulties in trying to surface women's experiences in our research.…”

What and how: doing good research with young people, digital intimacies, and relationships and sex education

“…Several groups have published recommendations for increasing inclusivity in research, including providing multiple answer categories to questions about, for example, sex, gender and sexual identity; using culturally appropriate language that does not cast certain identities or practices as ‘normal’; appropriately contextualising the research (by acknowledging the limitations of the study sample) and avoiding overgeneralising the findings (by recognising that the ‘general’ population is a diverse population and that minority groups are part of the general population) (Goins and Pye 2013 ; Ansara 2015 ; Carrotte et al 2016 ). Researchers should resist assuming homogeneity within ‘minority’ groups and avoid reinforcing stereotyping (Kneale et al 2019 ).…”