The Sex Industry in New Zealand: A Literature Review

Foreword | Acknowledgements | Tables | Executive summary | Part I: The Sex Industry in New Zealand | Part II: Overseas Models of Prostitution Law Reform Evaluations | References | Appendix I: Methodological issues in researching clients of sex workers

Appendix I: Methodological issues in researching clients of sex workers

Researching the sex industry is a difficult undertaking, and conventional approaches in relation to sample design and recruitment are generally not feasible. Until 2003 this was an industry in hiding, and the stigma still attached to prostitution will continue to impact on research conducted in the new era.

In relation to a survey of clients, Chetwynd and Plumridge (1993) found clients of street workers were the most difficult to contact (Chetwynd and Plumridge, 1993). These men had to be approached ‘cold’, could sometimes be drunk or argumentative, were seldom in quiet situations conducive to talking, and could potentially misinterpret the interviewer’s approach as a sexual advance (Chetwynd and Plumridge, 1993, 18-19).

Even in parlours, however, access to the workers often depended on securing the agreement of the management, and even when this was forthcoming, some workers chose to ‘protect’ their clients by not facilitating the interviewer’s contact with them. Primarily what the researchers found was that the clients who were most willing to participate were those whom the workers had encouraged to do so.

Of those clients who agreed to participate, the overwhelming majority were white and middle class (Chetwynd and Plumridge, 1993, 19), thereby potentially skewing the sample. Further possible distortions could arise as a result of clients wanting to create favourable impressions by minimising aspects of their exchanges with sex workers, such as admitting to anal sex or sex with transsexual workers.

What Chetwynd and Plumridge suggested as guidelines for future research with clients of sex workers included the following points, summarised below:

• Design separate studies for street and parlour populations.

• Consider the limitations of a questionnaire approach on the street, where the ability to conduct research is likely to be limited by noise, drunkenness, lack of privacy and possible danger.

• Consider the possibility of cultural bias arising from approaching clients at particular venues.

• Design and study separately the clients of female, male, and transsexual sex workers.

• Use a multi-methods approach to data-gathering, with the use of less structured, qualitative interviewing to obtain some information.

(Chetwynd and Plumridge, 1993, 21-22)

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