Ethical and methodological challenges involved in research on sexual violence in Nigeria

ABSTRACT 

Research 011 sexual violence is fraught with ethical and methodol.ogical challenges due to its sensitive nature. This

paper describes the ethical and methodol.ogical challenges encountered in planning and conducting two exploratory

studies on sexual violence that included in-depth interviews of eight female adolescent rape survivors in Thadan and

foul' manied women in Lagos Nigeria who were raped,forced to periorm sexual acts and sexually deprived. The first

challenge encountered was an Institutional Review Board ORB) requirement to obtain parental permission Jrom adolescents,

when such a requirement may place the adol.escent at risk if a parent was a perpetrator of sexual violence.

Using arguments emphasizing the Council [or Internati.onal Organization for Medical Sciences guidelines helped

convince the JRB to provide a waiver of parental consent. Second, the privacy required to conduct in-depth interviews

for rape survivors was difficult to achieve because Jive of the rape survivors were apprentices who work in public settings

that which are typically used to conduct business In the infO/mal sector. To overcome this challenge, interviews

were conducted in saJe locations, investigator's oJfices and homes oj survivors. The culture of silence associated with

sexual violence posed a challenge because it encourages perpetration of violence with impunity causing rape survivors

to suffer in silence. None of the affected adolescents had sought judicial redress for rape clespite availability of

stringent punishment for this behaviour. Referral infOlmation was provided on where survivors could seek care.

Interviews with the women could not be recorded on audi.o-tapes because of concerns that their partners might identify

their voices Jrom the tapes and punish them for this. Although research on sexual violence poses ethical and

methodological challenges, it is not only desirable but also feasible to conduct such research in ways that ensure safety

of participants.