I'm developing a study on male prostitution, but I'm finding it difficult to get interviews. Most of the guys I came in contact with are willing to do interviews as long as I pay for their time. They claim that while they spend some of their time talking to me, they could be earning money with a client. One of them said that researchers commonly appropriate their stories, receive the title of master and doctor, while they do not gain anything. I felt that their arguments are valid and that, in fact, it would be fair pay (not for the interview but for the time) however, this attitude may run into an ethical issue.
So, I would like to ask you about this impasse, how do you see payment for the time of interviews, in this specific case?
It is the custom in social research to pay people to participate. This includes completing questionnaires as well as being interviewed. Such costs should form part of your budget. They also need to be assured of anonymity and confidentiality regarding their contributions.
To me, it sounds like there is no way to avoid paying in this circumstance, but I suggest you look at previously published research on prostitutes (both male and female) to find out what is common practice.
It is common in scholarly research to provide an "honorarium" to compensate the participant for their time. In phenomenological research, the interviews are conversations that may take over an hour or two. If your institution allows it, providing the participants with a gift card might be acceptable. I was able to do this in 2005/2006 when I interviewed grandfathers for my dissertation research and they appreciated it the $50 gift card.
Hopefully the guidance / illustrations / arguments as per the following papers might further help:
- Grant, R. W. and Sugarman, J. (2004) Ethics in human subjects research: do incentives matter?, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 29, 6, pp. 717-738.
- Hammett, D. and Sporton, D. (2012) Paying for interviews? Negotiating ethics, power and expectation, Area, 44, 4, pp. 496-502.
- Harris, J. (2005) Scientific research is a moral duty, Journal of medical ethics, 31, 4, pp. 242-248.
- McNeill, P. (1997) A Response to Wilkinson and Moore - Paying people to participate in research: why not?, Bioethics, 11, 5, pp. 390-396.
- Wilkinson, M. and Moore, A. (1997) Inducement in research, Bioethics, 11, 5, pp. 373-389.
Well, it depends on the participants as well as the culture. In my case, most of the respondents were very nice; they did not ask for any reward. Still, using the "paying reward strategy" is always useful in terms of data collection. I used to do it in the past, and it was highly responsive. You can also hire enumerators to collect data.
I think in this case paying for interviews makes sense, and I cannot see offhand how that might bias your results. In addition, you might think of other ways to compensate your interviewees, such as making sure they have copies of your final work, such as books and articles, and offering them the opportunity to ask you questions, including about the answers of others (not identifiable), or other portions of your study that might be of use to them, such as how others deal with police, or threats of violence, or how much they report earning.
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