van den Borne Francine
Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, Department of Social and Behaviour Sciences, The Netherlands.
Stud Fam Plann. 2007 Dec;38(4):322-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2007.00144.x.
To halt the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi, donors supported the government in promoting safer sex among women who solicit sex with men in and around bars. In 1996, a qualitative study explored the changing dynamics of concurrent sexual partnerships, using a variety of researchers and methods. Although most international ethical research codes prescribe the informed consent of research subjects, the present author, as principal investigator for that study, included the mystery-client method, which omits informants' consent. Five trained, pilot-tested, and closely supervised male researchers contacted 101 bar girls and "freelancing" women in trading and urban centers to assess the women's ability to negotiate condom use. The men posed as clients but were instructed not to have sex with their informants. This approach provided important contextualized information to improve HIV transmission-prevention programs, yet it raises ethical concerns. This article is intended to contribute to the dialogue and debate on ethical research involving mystery clients and to encourage other researchers to share their ethical dilemmas and show how they have addressed them.
为了在马拉维遏制艾滋病毒/艾滋病的流行，捐助者支持政府在酒吧内外与男性进行性交易的女性中推广更安全的性行为。1996年，一项定性研究采用了多种研究人员和方法，探讨了同时存在的性伴侣关系的动态变化。尽管大多数国际伦理研究准则规定研究对象需知情同意，但作为该研究的主要研究者，本文作者采用了神秘客户法，该方法未征求被调查者的同意。五名经过培训、预测试并受到密切监督的男性研究人员联系了贸易和城市中心的101名酒吧女郎和“自由职业”女性，以评估这些女性协商使用避孕套的能力。这些男性假扮成客户，但被指示不得与他们的被调查者发生性关系。这种方法为改进艾滋病毒传播预防项目提供了重要的背景信息，但也引发了伦理问题。本文旨在促进关于涉及神秘客户的伦理研究的对话和辩论，并鼓励其他研究人员分享他们的伦理困境以及展示他们是如何解决这些困境的。
