The project I am working on for this class is just chock full of ethical concerns. Anytime you start a conversation dealing with sexual orientation and/or gender identity, you risk bring up intensely triggering events, particularly when the issue of an individual’s coming out experience is concerned. Many have dealt with rejection, alienation, and violence in the process of coming out, and the topic must be approached with the highest levels of sensitivity and discretion. In structuring the research instrument for this project, I made it very clear not only that participation is voluntary (which is standard) but also that there is the option of remaining completely anonymous. The survey would be administered online without me having met or spoken to the intended participants involved. If they are willing, they have the option of participating further participation in one-on-one interviews, but even then, they do have the option of email, phone, or face-to-face. While face-to-face would of course be preferred, phone and especially email offer a way to do the interview without many of the concerns of in-person interviews. I would not see the participant, and they could, if desired, give a fake name in order to maintain full anonymity.
These precautions and structures are not ideal when trying to gather such information but they are necessary. Many of the intended participants may not be out to anyone but themselves or a select few friends and were these not in place, there very well may be no participants from which to gather data. Of course, these issues are not only present with LGBTQ research. This is true of any population in which the interview, survey, or other data collection method may be triggering.