+ Undertaking socially sensitive research has benefits, for example enhancing the understanding of the experiences of minority groups, or more general benefits (e.g. uncovering the lack of accuracy of eyewitness testimony).
- Researching minority groups may bring similar problems to that of cross-cultural studies, for example, the researcher's own world view becomes the 'norm' and the minority group's experiences are seen as 'inferior' or 'deviant'.
-/+ Once research is published, the effects can be long-lasting, even if it is then discredited. For example. the psychologist Cyril Burt published findings suggesting that intelligence is inherited, leading to the separation of children based on their ability once they had completed an intelligence test at age 11 (the '11+'. which decided if a child went to grammar school or not). Burt's findings were later found to have been based on invented data, but the test remained in place for a long time afterwards, and the idea that there is a 'natural' level of intelligence still remains amongst many people. This shows the potential consequences of socially sensitive research.
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