Poz Gay Grad Student Needs Your Help

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, on2thenxt87 said:

I think you should participate because your perspective and experiences are important 🙂

I think that only two people have asked to see my full proposal, and I sent it because they asked for it, but I would be hesitant to post the full thing here and I'll explain why. There is this thing called "The Hawthorne Effect," which basically argues that when people know they are talking to a researcher, they are more likely to respond in a way that they think the researcher wants them to respond. I think that similarly, if I posted the whole proposal and potential participants were able to see my hypothesis or what I am hoping to find, then it could influence how they answer the questions. I definitely don't mind sharing the actual interview questions I ask though because those do not necessarily indicate what I'm hoping to find or anything like that. I hope that makes sense.

Thank you but I really feel I just don't want to.

I'd much more prefer to read it afterwards and if I feel I ought to, grill you over a proverbial barbecue when I think that the research in any way could be read or misused in a way to conclude that cruising is a pastime only done by gays and bisexuals and only by men, that it's in any way deviant behaviour in stead of something that's been happening for centuries in a lot of places in the world, by all sorts of people (who probably for the most part have a penis, I'll allow for that). 😉 
That's much easier from the position not having participated in the interviews.

And thanks for the explanation, it makes perfect sense. I didn't know it was called "The Hawthorne Effect".
I do know that sometimes in questionnaires and interviews the questions are about what people's guess is about what other people think or do, because there's also at times a tendency when you ask someone about themselves, for people to give responses that are socially acceptable in their culture but not entirely true per se.

Again: Good luck.

No pressure... But if you experience it to an overly stressful degree nonetheless I suggest booze and sex in the time honoured tradition of students during all of our history to cope with it.
Have fun. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Guest

[Guest]

How's the writing coming along?
I enjoyed reading the notes on your Autoethnographic Account and would like to offer my congratulations / sympathies on no longer being a gold star gay.