To what extent can we adequately study people who do not share our views?

In the 1960s several cases of human rights abuse through research came to light1. In the field of biomedical research, examples include the secret radiation experiments carried out on sick and healthy people by the US Energy Department in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Tuskegee study to investigate the effects of untreated syphilis on illiterate black men by the US Public Health Department (1932-1972)1. In the field of political science, Project Camelot was started …

…Practice. London: Sage. 14.Jayaratne TE (1993) The Value of Quantitative Methodology for Feminist Research. In Hammersley, M (ed) (1993) Social Research: Philosophy, Politics and Practice. London: Sage. 15.Eberstadt N (1995) The Tyranny of Numbers: Mismeasurement and Misrule. Washington DC: AEI Press. 16.Standing K (1998) Writing the Voices of the Less Powerful. In Ribbens J and Edwards R (eds) Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research. London: Sage. 17.Robson C (1993) Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers. Oxford: Blackwell.