Ethics in studying sexual minorities
What is research ethics?
In research, a distinction is made between scientific integrity, professional ethics and research ethics. Integrity refers to the set of rules and values that must govern research activities to ensure that they are honest and rigorous (falsification of data, misconduct). Deontology refers to the set of rules that govern a particular profession (code of ethics for psychologists). Finally, ethics refers to the moral issues raised by research activities and involves the protection of individuals. Ethical research is therefore research that analyses its effects on the integrity of participants and its consequences for society before, during and after the research is carried out.
What are the specificities of research ethics for sexual minorities?
Sexual minorities are a group that has been pathologised and criminalised in the past and that is still highly stigmatised in our societies today. They are therefore a vulnerable group with special needs that require particular attention to be paid to the ethics surrounding research. Several Anglo-Saxon articles (Bettinger, 2010; Nieder et al., 2020; Henrickson et al., 2020) give ethical recommendations for minimising the risks to which sexual minorities may be exposed:
Respect for individual autonomy and anonymity
Principle of benefit: minimise the damage that may be caused by external factors dependent on the researcher's action
Principle of non-maleficence: not inflicting harm on an individual through the researcher's action, even if the purpose of this action is to increase well-being.
Principle of the justice imperative: preservation of dignity (correct pronoun, aim of research for sexual minorities)
Commitment to the taxonomy and language of sexual minorities
Reducing binary cisgender heteronormativity
Recognising intersectionality and its impact on studies
Considering the plurality of epistemologies
Assessing the value of research in its context (scientific, national and global)
These recommendations guide our research, adapting them to the French context.