Students, sex and aids: A methodological controversy

When designing research aimed at eliciting sensitive sexual information, researchers need to consider the choice of a qualitative or quantitative design or a combination of the two. In the case of the RAU study of HIV/ AIDS and students at Rand Afrikaans University (RA U) (Uys et al, 2002) a qualitative and a quantitative component were included. This article attempts to investigate possible reasons for the differences in findings between the literature review (especially the qualitative studies) and our qualitative study on the one hand and our quantitative research on the other hand. This is achieved by first providing an overview of the literature on HIV/AIDS at tertiary institutions, distinguishing between quantitative and qualitative studies where relevant, and then discussing and comparing the findings of the qualitative and quantitative research at RA U with those of the literature review. Finally, possible reasons for the differences in the pictures provided by the qualitative and quantitative studies are considered. This analysis demonstrates the limitations of qualitative research when doing research about sensitive issues such as sexual behaviour and HIV/ AIDS. The danger of a social desirability bias distorting the findings should remain at the forefront when taking decisions about research design. Although qualitative methods can provide a deeper understanding of the motives behind behaviour and attitudes and can be useful in guiding questionnaire construction, the researcher should always be on the alert for ways in which the sources of social desirability bias can be held in check.