ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, a sociology graduate student by the name of Laud Humphreys conducted a study of homosexual behavior in public places. Unbeknownst to the subjects of his field research study, Humphreys, a gay man himself, identified men having homosexual encounters in public bathrooms. He obtained the license plate numbers of these men and then went to their homes (disguising his own appearance so he would not be recognized) under the guise of conducting a “social health survey” and asked them questions about their personal life. He discovered that many of these men were in heterosexual marriages and living very traditional lives. In the era in which his research was done, the information he gathered was remarkable as it fundamentally challenged notions of what was normal behavior and led to a deeper understanding of human sexuality. However, on many fronts, his study violated the most important ethical standards for research. Humphreys did not obtain informed consent from his subjects, deceived them regarding the purpose of
his survey, and also infringed on their privacy by coming into their homes under false pretenses. Because of these ethical violations, he was denied his Ph.D. degree by his university.1
