Ethical & political research - assignment question?

Question

what would your advice be to the following students as far as (1) ethical conciderations and (2) the politics of research are concerned?

1.1 a student is interested in the student counseling services regarding reproductive health and risk behaviour at your institution.

Answer 1

This would really depend on what type of research you are conducting. There are some standard ethical concerns for all types, though.  First, confidentiality is key.  Also, any research must not cause any risk of harm to the participants.  Also, since you are talking about medical and counseling issues, there will be ethical issues about what you may or may not have access to.  As far as political issues, anytime you deal with s*x, there will always be several groups who will stick their noses into it.  It gets even worse when you talk about s*x and schools.  In any case, you will have to address alternate lifestyles, pregnancy, premarital s*x, who will be funding the research and why, etc.