In the summer of 1995, I did my fieldwork in Germany. I had a "contact person" in each of the forty-four towns. Their homes were where the research took place, and also where I spent the night. One of my "contact people" turned out to be extremely busy, and arranged for me to come stay with her parents instead of with her.
When I arrived at her parents' house, I discovered that the original contact person's mother was going to be out of town the whole time I would be there, leaving me alone in the house with her father. This didn't bother me at first, but over the course of the time I was staying there (two days and two nights), he made a number of what I now realize were inappropriate comments about my appearance. He also asked me lots of questions about my life which I wouldn't have had trouble answering under normal circumstances, but he was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable. The worst part was that he kept hugging me. He'd come up and say: "Can I hug you?" and then he'd hug me. It was very, very strange.
I remember feeling that I couldn't just leave, because 1) I needed the people he was putting me in touch with as research subjects, and 2) he was doing me a huge favour in letting me stay there in the first place. So I stuck it out, and nothing dramatic ended up happening. I'm pretty sure that if I were in a similar situation now, though, I'd say research be damned.
For what it's worth, I don't particularly want you to keep doing this work, either, at least not with a research protocol that leaves you alone in the room with these men.
Is there any way to modify the protocol to take your safety more into account?
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Date: 2002-06-10 01:22 pm (UTC)When I arrived at her parents' house, I discovered that the original contact person's mother was going to be out of town the whole time I would be there, leaving me alone in the house with her father. This didn't bother me at first, but over the course of the time I was staying there (two days and two nights), he made a number of what I now realize were inappropriate comments about my appearance. He also asked me lots of questions about my life which I wouldn't have had trouble answering under normal circumstances, but he was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable. The worst part was that he kept hugging me. He'd come up and say: "Can I hug you?" and then he'd hug me. It was very, very strange.
I remember feeling that I couldn't just leave, because 1) I needed the people he was putting me in touch with as research subjects, and 2) he was doing me a huge favour in letting me stay there in the first place. So I stuck it out, and nothing dramatic ended up happening. I'm pretty sure that if I were in a similar situation now, though, I'd say research be damned.
For what it's worth, I don't particularly want you to keep doing this work, either, at least not with a research protocol that leaves you alone in the room with these men.
Is there any way to modify the protocol to take your safety more into account?
-J