The Least Heterosexual? Ethical Research on Policing LGBTI Communities

• In Event: Methodological Issues in Queer Community Research

Abstract

This paper examines the tensions, difficulties, and points of awkwardness that emerge from doing ethical research projects on policing LGBTI communities. The paper reflects on these issues in relation to three projects conducted by the author in terms of the process of ethical review and the messy processes involved in conducting the research projects. In particular, the focus will be on elaborating how certain notions of what it means to be an ethical researcher were enacted in different ways by the researcher, and in sometimes contentious circumstances depending on the research, or indeed the university, setting. The paper concludes with suggestions for thinking about future research projects around policing LGBTI communities.

Author

• Angela Dwyer, University of Tasmania