Meaning of COVERT RESEARCH:
Some styles of research are invariably public; people cannot complete a survey questionnaire without being aware of it (though we can do subtle things with question placement). But it is possible to study people without their knowledge. We could study a new religion by pretending to be a believer or watch and overhear diners by working as a waiter. As Laud Humphreys did in (1970) Tearoom Trade Impersonal Sex in Public Places we could pretend to interview people for one research purpose while actually collecting some of that information for a quite different purpose.