Research methods in crime and justice by 
Researching the Vulnerable by
′This book is refreshing, both as an addition to the general literature and as a text that considers cultural and social issues in studies relating to improving the situation of vulnerable people.... [T]his book will be a helpful, accessible and interesting resource for novice and experienced researchers alike in a number of fields′ - Nurse Researcher ′Pranee Liamputtong has offered a well organized, clear and accessible work in Researching the Vulnerable...this book can offer very good guidance to the postgraduate student who is willing to focus in qualitative research methods, but also to an experienced researcher who may consider testing out its procedures or eventually is attempting to put into practice innovative qualitative research procedures′ - Sociological Research Online Researching Vunerable People takes as its starting point the particular considerations and sensitivities of being a researcher faced with a subject group at the margins of society, and explores the ethical, practical and methodological implications of working with such groups. Pranee Liamputtong is an experienced textbook author, and in this book she attempts to explore qualitative methods using examples, drawn from around the world, from the wide variety of contexts that might count as ′researching the vulnerable′. Numerous salient points for the conduct of research within vulnerable groups of people, including ethical and moral issues, are considered, and discussed in the context of sensitive and innovative research methods.
The Pains of Doing Criminological Research by
By explicitly focusing on the lived experiences of criminology researchers and giving voice to their difficulties, struggles, frustrations, and the challenges they meet during their research, this book places the researcher in the center of the attention, providing a unique perspective to the classical handbook in research methods. These tales of the field witnesses relate the hidden difficulties and pitfalls of doing research and discuss often-neglected questions. What does it mean to do research in a hypermasculine environment as a prison? What are the challenges to getting access to a police organization or to private intelligence organizations and private security companies? How does a researcher cope with her or his own emotions during fieldwork? How does an ex-convict experience the process of becoming a researcher? What are the hidden or unexpected problems of publishing? What are the challenges of doing comparative research? These are only a few questions that are dealt with in this book, which is written by researchers for researchers and students of criminology.
The Prisoner Society by
Crewe, B. (2011) ‘Appendix: Notes on the research process. pp. 436-489
While the use of imprisonment continues to rise in developed nations, we have little sociological knowledge of the prison's inner world. Based on extensive fieldwork in a medium-security prison, The Prisoner Society: Power, Adaptation and Social Life in an English Prison provides an in-depthanalysis of the prison's social anatomy. It explains how power is exercised by the institution, individualizing the prisoner community and demanding particular forms of compliance and engagement. Drawing on prisoners' life stories, it supplies a detailed typology of adaptive styles, showing how different prisoners experience and respond to the new range of penal practices and frustrations. It then explains how the prisoner society - its norms, hierarchy and social relationships - is shapedboth by these conditions of confinement and by the different backgrounds, values and identities that prisoners bring into the prison environment. Through this analysis, this meticulously researched book aims to revive and update the dormant tradition of prison ethnography. It provides an empirical snapshot of a modern prison, documenting the aims and techniques of contemporary imprisonment and illuminating the social structures and behavioursthat they generate. Through a penetrating account of power relations throughout the institution, the author documents the pains of modern imprisonment, the new techniques of survival, and the prison's distinctive forms of trade, friendship and everyday culture.
The Sage Handbook of Criminological Research Methods by
Conducting research into crime and criminal justice carries unique challenges. This Handbook focuses on the application of 'methods' to address the core substantive questions that currently motivate contemporary criminological research. It maps a canon of methods that are more elaborated than in most other fields of social science, and the intellectual terrain of research problems with which criminologists are routinely confronted. Drawing on exemplary studies, chapters in each section illustrate the techniques (qualitative and quantitative) that are commonly applied in empirical studies, as well as the logic of criminological enquiry. Organized into five sections, each prefaced by an editorial introduction, the Handbook covers: - Crime and Criminals - Contextualizing Crimes in Space and Time: Networks, Communities and Culture - Perceptual Dimensions of Crime - Criminal Justice Systems: Organizations and Institutions - Preventing Crime and Improving Justice Edited by leaders in the field of criminological research, and with contributions from internationally renowned experts, The SAGE Handbook of Criminological Research Methods is set to become the definitive resource for postgraduates, researchers and academics in criminology, criminal justice, policing, law, and sociology. David Gadd is Professor of Criminology at Manchester University School of Law where he is also Director of the Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice. Susanne Karstedt has a Chair in Criminology and Criminological Justice at the University of Leeds. Steven F. Messner is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology, University at Albany, State University of New York.
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis by
The wide range of approaches to data analysis in qualitative research can seem daunting even for experienced researchers. This handbook is the first to provide a state-of-the art overview of the whole field of QDA; from general analytic strategies used in qualitative research, to approaches specific to particular types of qualitative data, including talk, text, sounds, images and virtual data. The handbook includes chapters on traditional analytic strategies such as grounded theory, content analysis, hermeneutics, phenomenology and narrative analysis, as well as coverage of newer trends like mixed methods, reanalysis and meta-analysis. Practical aspects such as sampling, transcription, working collaboratively, writing and implementation are given close attention, as are theory and theorization, reflexivity, and ethics. Written by a team of experts in qualitative research from around the world, this handbook is an essential compendium for all qualitative researchers and students across the social sciences.
Doing Excellent Small-Scale Research by
[Chapter 2 ‘Finding a topic & a research problem’ pp. 21-39]
In this inspiring and engaging book, readers are presented with the key principles and practices of small-scale research. In addition, the book provides a peerless introduction to the key features involved in the process of research design and practice. Written in a clear, accessible way and drawing on exciting up-to-date examples, this book makes for a crucial companion on the way to research excellence. Based on Derek Layder's solid background as a researcher, supervisor and teacher, Doing Excellent Small-Scale Research:Leads the researcher through the actual process of doing a research project from start to finishOffers a comprehensive outline of general areas and issues such as preparation and planning, developing research questions, interviewing and samplingReflects upon research as a social and human processProvides systematic guidelines and advice above and beyond technical essentialsThis book is invaluable to both students and researchers interested in social interaction - informing, guiding and inspiring them towards excellent small-scale research.
Doing Criminological Research by
Martin, C. (2000) ‘Doing research in a prison setting’, in Jupp, V., Davies, P. and Francis, P. (eds.) pp. 215-233
This major new textbook brings together leading criminological researchers who provide an insight into the processes, practicalities and actualities of planning, experiencing and doing criminological research. The book draws on a wide range of studies of crime and criminal justice. Doing Criminological Research is essential reading for students of criminology and for those embarking on criminological inquiry.
Ethics and values in social research. by
In particular chapter 5 ‘Critical approaches in social research: Critical realism and value standpoint social research’ pp. 102-127; and Chapter 7 ‘social research and social policy’ pp. 149-167
Data Collection and Analysis by
In particular Chapter 7 ‘Preparing numerical data’, pp. 153-184; Chapter 8 ‘Extracting and preparing statistics’ pp. 184-208; Chapter 9 ‘Statistical techniques’, pp. 208-243
In simple and non-technical terms, the Second Edition of Data Collection and Analysis illustrates a wide range of techniques and approaches used in social research projects. Always accessible and engaging, this comprehensive text covers both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis in social research, considering both the structure and logic of research projects and the ethics and politics of research. A wide range of examples illustrate the text and a set of exercises runs throughout the book to aid the reader in understanding and planning research projects. Building on the strengths of the First Edition, this new and expanded version includes: - The addition of chapter introductions, summaries and key terms to guide the reader through the text - Three brand new chapters focusing on: research and information on the Net; discourse research; ethnographic and discursive qualitative analysis - Up-to-date examples of research in action - New material on questionnaire design, composite measurement and techniques of quantitative and qualitative interviewing An invaluable guide for students from across the social sciences, this wide-ranging volume is also a key resource for practitioners in a variety of applied areas including nursing, social work, the criminal justice system, teaching and education.
Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry by
Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, Fourth Edition is Volume II of the three-volume paperback versions of The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, Fourth Edition. This portion of the handbook consists of the topics addressed in "Part III: Strategies of Inquiry."Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, Fourth Edition isolates the major strategies-historically, the research methods-that researchers can use in conducting concrete qualitative studies. The question of methods begins with questions of design and the matters of money and funding. These questions always begin with the researcher who moves from a research question to a paradigm or perspective, and then to the empirical world. The history and uses of these strategies are explored extensively in this volume. The chapters move from forms (and problems with) mixed methods inquiry to case study, performance and narrative ethnography, to constructionist analytics to grounded theory strategies, testimonies, participatory action research, and clinical research.
Doing Research in the Real World. 3rd ed. by 
The Sociological Imagination by
In particular the 'Appendix: On intellectual craftmanship', pp. 195-226
Hailed upon publication as a cogent and hard-hitting critique, The Sociological Imagination took issue with the ascendant schools of sociology in the United States, calling for a humanist sociology connecting the social, personal, and historical dimensions of our lives. Leading sociologist Todd Gitlin brings this fortieth anniversary edition up to date with a lucid afterword in which he considers the ways social analysis has progressed since Mills first published his study in 1959. A classic in the field, this book still provides rich food for our imagination.
