Annotated bibliography: Problems of objectivity

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Li, C.K., "Adult sexual experiences with children," in Li, C.K., West, D.J., & Woodhouse, T.P., Children’s sexual encounters with adults, London: Duckworth, pp. 139-316, 1990a.

Psychologist Chin-Keung Li discusses research in which the investigators resort to speculation, neglect confounding variables, examine data selectively, or interpret results in light of their own value judgments. He also describes ways in which researchers bias conclusions by mixing together different types of sexual experiences and assuming that findings from one type apply to others.

Okami, P., "Sociopolitical Biases in the Contemporary Scientific Literature on Adult Human Sexual Behavior with Children and Adolescents," in Feierman, J. (ed.), Pedophilia: Biosocial Dimensions, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990, pp. 91-121.

UCLA psychologist Paul Okami describes biased research methods which inhibit an understanding of adult-minor sexual interaction. These methods include starting from assumptions that contradict known research findings, using terminology that confounds attempts to understand such interactions, and biasing methods toward their expected results. He writes that much literature appears intended to enforce social norms rather than promote scientific inquiry, and that it resembles demonology more than sexology.