Psychology Research Proposal

Broad Topic Area
Lit Review
Problem Statement
Research Questions
Describe Phenomena (Qualitative descriptive (QD)approach)
Methodology & Design
Purpose Statement
Data Collection Approach
Data Analysis Approach

ANSWER

Psychology Research Proposal

Broad topic area  

Title – Influence of occupational aspects on male sex workers’ perceptions regarding their roles in the trade.

Male sex workers (MSWs) rank among the least studied cadre of unofficial service providers in the entertainment industry. The dearth of research and data regarding their condition, challenges, and roles has created an information vacuum that requires focus if scholars comprehend this niche of society. This study seeks to rectify this absence of information through a conventional scientific approach.

Literature review  

Minichiello, Scott & Callander (2013), in their study, New pleasures and old dangers: reinventing male sex work, sought to understand the current occupational challenges affect MSWs. They acknowledge that the hitherto dominant perception of MSWs as desperate unemployed males servicing deviant clients is slowly changing with the advent of the internet and changes in social understanding of sexuality. They found that increased visibility of MSWs, a growing population of heterosexual women seeking their services, and changes within the industry across the globe have all accorded the trade better visibility and a modicum of respect.

Biello et al. (2020), in their study Network-level, correlates sexual risk among male sex workers in the United States: A dyadic analysis investigates some of the occupational hazards MSWs face in the US. They found that network characteristics, in which certain groups who are MSWs are also drug abusers, inconsistent condom users, and homosexual contribute to disproportionate HIV exposure among sex workers. They suggested the conclusion of network characteristics whenever HIV studies of MSWs takes place because it gives a more holistic picture of the scenario.

Minichiello, Scott & Callander (2015) sought to understand the public health occupational angle to male sex work. They also acknowledge a growing and diversifying taste for male sex work among consumers. They find that globalization and technology have taken center stage in trade and greatly contributed to its normalization and changed the landscape. These factors make it easier to target MSWs with safe sex messages, an approach to public health systems across the world that are yet to adapt through programs and policies. It is their view that ‘Public health initiatives must reflect upon and incorporate this new knowledge.’

Okanlawon, Adebowale & Titilayo (2013) studies the life experiences, sexual hazards, and social circumstances that MSWs encounter in Nigeria. They point out that MSWs are at a high risk of discrimination in the country due to the criminalization of sex work and same-sex activity. They found that most MSWs in the country engage in the activity due to poverty, which worsens when police and rogue clients target them. Unfortunately, sexual health and rights programs designed for them do not address these challenges, making a dire situation even bleaker.

Logan (2010), in his study characteristics, sexual behaviors, and male sex work: A quantitative approach, opted to investigate measurable aspects relating to the MSW trade. He gathered data from a large online MSW website to investigate the group as they work in the US and found various interesting characteristics. First, MSWs are concentrated where the population is dense rather than a high proportion of gay men. Second, MSWs who advertise their services and emphasize their masculinity tend to charge higher for services than 17% more than less masculine counterparts. Also contributing to charges are race and preferred sexual behaviors.

Baral et al. (2015) also explored MSWs’ vulnerabilities to HIV infection and transmission. They found that MSWs, whether homo or heterosexual, tend to offer their services to men and rarely advertise their services. Despite the slowing HIV pandemic, MSWs are the single demographic that sees increased infections despite researchers not according to them distinct recognition away from gay men, female sex workers, and other minorities. Consequently, they rank among the most affected and underserved victims of HIV prevention programs. They recommended availing of SRI programs for these groups for the sake of public health and as a human right.

“Dedicated efforts are needed to make those services available for the sake of both public health and human rights. Evidence-based and human rights-affirming services explicitly dedicated to male sex workers are needed to improve these men’s health outcomes and the people within their sexual networks (Baral et al., 2015).

Atkins & Laing (2012), in their study, Walking the beat and doing business: Exploring spaces of male sex work and public sex, investigated red-light districts and how they influence the work of MSWs. They found that mutual knowledge of such spaces between clients and MSWs usually draw from unofficial exchanges and non-deliberate colonization. The presence of sex workers over a brief period in the same space attracts their clientele, soon turning it into the preferred rendezvous. Sometimes it is environmental and embodied signals or triggers that bring the community together. Still, the process remains unstructured and spontaneous despite such structures making MSWs’ process of getting clients easier.

Vanwesenbeeck (2013) juxtaposed the perspectives of male and female prostitutes regarding occupational aspects. He found that the ebbing stigmatization, online communities, supportive work surroundings, coping mechanisms, and increased self-efficacy among MSWs contribute to the growing appreciation of male sex work among MSWs. He makes a case for unique and distinct regard for MSWs as working in a radically different field compared to female sex workers who receive the most research attention.

In conclusion, this literature review has established that male sex work is just as complex as poorly understood. Many studies on the subject are also qualitative, with some being secondary and most being primary. This study will seek to fill some of the gaps left behind by other researchers.

Problem statement

MSW’s descriptions of their work experience remain unknown or scanty in terms of tangible scientific data. Unlike their female counterparts, MSWs remain a minority in a society whose occupational barriers are unknown and, therefore, not understood. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate some occupational aspects of this profession and how MSWs perceive them in relation to their continued practice. The categorizations within the trade, such as MSWs who serve male clients, who work with escort agencies, who are self-employed, etc., mirror those present among female sex workers (FSWs). Still, the challenges and perceptions are radically different because of gender differences. This study will strive to unearth the influence that occupational aspects have on the perceptions of MSWs regarding their roles in the trade.

Research questions 

This study aims to investigate the influence of occupational aspects on the perceptions of male sex workers regarding their roles in the trade. The specific objectives proceeding from this are, therefore;

• To investigate how serving male clients influences MSWs’ description of their roles in the trade.
• To explore how strategies for overcoming occupational barriers influence MSWs’ description of their roles in the trade.
• To study the strategies MSWs use to overcome occupational barriers.

The research questions proceeding from these specific objectives therefore become;

RQ1 – How does serving male clients influence MSWs’ description of their roles in the trade?

RQ2 – How do strategies for overcoming occupational barriers influence MSWs’ description of their roles in the trade?

RQ3 – Which strategies do MSWs use to overcome occupational barriers?

Research philosophy 

The research philosophy for this study will be Interpretivism. This paradigm holds that a subjective understanding of and involvement, in reality, can a complete understanding of the phenomenon under study come about (Kroeze, 2012). Interpretivism, therefore, holds that intervention in a phenomena’s natural environment is crucial to the process because it accords the researcher a deeper appreciation of nuances that are not observable in objectivist approaches. This paradigm is also an acknowledgment that scientists cannot avoid affecting or interfering with the phenomenon they are studying but should rather keep a close engagement that will invariably reveal unseen factors. Interpretivism acknowledges that there are multiple interpretations of reality, which are valid parts of the scientific knowledge that researchers are pursuing.

For this reason, the researcher will engage with MSWs in their environment, where they work, to get a close and intimate understanding of their perspectives as he pursues the objectives of the study. This engagement may not necessarily be personal. It can involve seeking interpretivism journal articles as secondary data and giving them new elucidations that illuminate the area of study based on the objectives.

Methodology & design 

The research design best applicable to the Intepretivist philosophy is the qualitative approach. Qualitative research involves the collection of non-measurable or non-numerical data, which nonetheless contains insightful information once processed (Silverman, 2020). The qualitative approach is the opposite of quantitative methods that involve collecting and analyzing numerical data that can undergo statistical analysis.

Qualitative research has several benefits when deployed to a study of this nature, making it as robust as those done within other paradigms. First, qualitative research enables researchers to investigate and deeply comprehend non-measurable factors such as attitudes, behaviors, cultural influences, feelings, thoughts, etc., that cannot be sufficiently unpacked in the quantitative realm. This flexibility enables researchers to see the tangible influences behind both qualitative and quantitative phenomena. Second, qualitative methods enable researchers to unearth phenomena in depth and detail, facilitating the ‘why’ of the research process. This possibility enables the researcher to expand on the new factors that a respondent may introduce in the discussion. Third, qualitative approaches allow a researcher to easily accept subjects’ responses, unlike in quantitative methods where responses must always conform to specific categories that the researcher prepares beforehand. This flexibility makes it easier for subjects to express their genuine views.

However, the approach also has its drawbacks. The qualitative method only allows for small sample sizes because of the more detailed nature of questioning, which makes every encounter with respondents quite time-consuming. A good application of qualitative methods, whether in primary or secondary data collection, usually involves much more interrogation than a simple questionnaire-based quantitative interview. Second, since the samples are smaller and the data gathered, non-measurable, qualitative findings are often not generalizable.

References

Atkins, M., & Laing, M. (2012). Walking the beat and doing business: Exploring spaces of male sex work and public sex. Sexualities, 15(5-6), 622-643. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363460712445984

Baral, S. D., Friedman, M. R., Geibel, S., Rebe, K., Bozhinov, B., Diouf, D., … & Cáceres, C. F. (2015). Male sex workers: practices, contexts, and vulnerabilities for HIV acquisition and transmission. The Lancet, 385(9964), 260-273. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4504188/

Biello, K. B., Goedel, W. C., Edeza, A., Safren, S. A., Mayer, K. H., Marshall, B. D., … & Mimiaga, M. J. (2020). Network-level correlates of sexual risk among male sex workers in the United States: A dyadic analysis. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 83(2), 111-118.

Kroeze, J. H. (2012). Postmodernism, interpretivism, and formal ontologies. In Research methodologies, innovations, and philosophies in software systems engineering and information systems (pp. 43-62). IGI Global.

Logan, T. D. (2010). Personal characteristics, sexual behaviors, and male sex work: A quantitative approach. American sociological review, 75(5), 679-704.

Minichiello, V., Scott, J., & Callander, D. (2013). New pleasures and old dangers: reinventing male sex work. Journal of sex research, 50(3-4), 263-275. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23480072/

Minichiello, V., Scott, J., & Callander, D. (2015). A new public health context to understand male sex work. BMC public health, 15(1), 282.

Okanlawon, K., Adebowale, A. S., & Titilayo, A. (2013). Sexual hazards, life experiences, and social circumstances among male sex workers in Nigeria. Culture, health & sexuality, 15(sup1), 22-33.

Silverman, D. (Ed.). (2020). Qualitative research. Sage Publications Limited.

Vanwesenbeeck, I. (2013). Prostitution push and pull: Male and female perspectives. Journal of sex research, 50(1), 11-16.

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