Students Studying Student Sexuality: methodological and ethical implications

Abstract

This article reports on an experiment engaging Master-level Geography students in real-life research on young people's sexuality in the context of a research methods module. This experiment was set up with the triple aim of providing students with a more hands-on learning experience of qualitative research methods, stimulating students to reflect on the social production of their own sexualities, and collaborating with young people to conduct research on the sexuality of their peers so as to circumvent the problem of outsiderness that older researchers face. Here, the authors reflect on the methodological, ethical and educational benefits and challenges of the experiment. The students reported to have acquired greater awareness of the social production and structural power of sexual norms in society. They also claimed to have appreciated the opportunity to gain insights into the intricacies of real-life research projects. From a methodological perspective, engaging students as researchers allowed the authors to acquire an insider perspective on young people's sexuality. This has improved access to research subjects as well as the authors' interpretative capacities. However, the students also reported to have struggled with their position as researchers of their own lifeworld, while the dominance of their interest to pass the course sometimes negatively affected the quality of the research. Finally, the students reported ethical issues, as some claimed to feel ‘exploited’ for the benefit of the authors' personal research interests, while others struggled with privacy issues in investigating the intimate lives of people close to them.