A reflective review of conducting Criminological research.

‘Criminological research for beginners—A student’s guide’ is written by Laura Caulfield and Jane Hill who are both experts in criminological research and have conducted research themselves on a range of interests including criminal psychology, restorative justice and community approaches to crime and deviance. This book is in my opinion, an essential read for those such as myself who are new to the field of criminology and find use in reading about the learned experiences and empirical conclusions made from those who have conducted academic research as well as those who may wish to re cap on key skills and philosophical theories surrounding the methodologies and routines within criminological research. It can be argued that throughout reading the book, we are provided with a space to critically reflect upon our own epistemologies, ontologies, methods and attitudes to criminological research and how we can apply them to a real life, day to day framework when researching society, individuals, the causes and mitigations to crime.

 As a keen reader in a range of criminological topics ranging from systematic violence, deviant leisure, geopolitics and International relations, I often think about gaps in the literature from the books I have read and methods of research I would adopt and my own epistemological assertions surrounding these topics which would help to build my methodology and ethical considerations. Equally as important though, this book breaks down the research process into bitesize and digestible stages thus giving the reader both a physical and imaginative template as to how they might like to think about conducting criminological research. Caulfield L and Hill J begin by discussing the importance of criminological research. They discuss the politics and histories which have shaped a criminologist’s understanding of research and ways in which it has evolved over time. From the positivist tradition which once dominated the understandings for the causations of criminality, Caulfield and Hill broke down the political and societal frameworks in which these ontologies were generated. Moving onto the evolvement of interpretivism and critical criminology, it arguably enables the reader to adopt a level of reflexivity and assertion of their own opinion as to which strands from the biological, political, structural and psychological elements have been argued by social scientists and criminologists contribute to the causes of criminality and thus the need to conduct research to further understand these frameworks. Another area for reflexivity within the book is the ethical considerations surrounding conducting criminological research. Caulfield and Hill state that firstly crime is a social construct and we should remember that these social constructions play a role in what or whom we in mainstream society ascribe as being ‘criminal’ and the separation of actions as being morally ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Thinking more specifically, Caulfield and Hill give the reader space to consider social constructions by pulling from research conducted within a gendered, racial and cultural context. These constructions can dictate the ethical considerations of who can conduct criminological research and of what topics.

Examples include the debate of a man conducting research exploring issues which typically affects women and have been explored through a feminine lens. Secondly that the social environment in which research is conducted often contains risk to both the participant and researcher as the narratives being explored are those of individuals and groups who have lived experience, typically involving incarceration, victimisation, stigmatisation and social exclusion. Methods of interaction between these individuals should be handled with careful consideration, and these considerations is the ethical responsibility of all researchers.

The next stage of the book entails the practicalities and making a head start with conducting criminological research. Upon finishing this chapter, I considered where my own ideas originate from based on books I have read, experiences I have endured with crime, and conversations I have had with individuals from a research, offending and victim background. The chapter titled ‘planning’ gave me a space to take my ideas and consider how I would draw them into a research question through both identifying gaps in the literature and relating them to my own interests.

The final stage of the book explores the methodological approaches to conducting criminological research. It begins with ethnographic research. Ethnography means for the researcher to immerse themselves into the environment of the research topic and witness the physical realities of the crime which would be taking place as well as the day to day social interactions between those who would perpetuate criminal or deviant activity to take place. Ethnography is a method of research which often goes underground from the legitimate economic and social sphere. With this exposure to the criminal underworld, there is a great deal of risk posed to researchers and participants. Examples of ethnography have included the exploration of a drug trafficking gang or the underworld of corporate crime. Drawing back to the earlier point made about reflexivity within the researcher, one would have to consider factors including risk, reporting crime if one had been committed and at the same time gaining the trust of those who would be subjected to observational research and making clear the intentions of the research and of course methods of withdrawing from the criminal world with minimising risk and ensuring legal practises are adhered too. Ethnographic research can both take place at an institutional level such as prisons, or within the established networks themselves. Caulfield and Hill help us to understand the importance of these considerations when doing ethnographic research but also the factors which have resulted in epistemological conclusions being more focused around interpretivism and ethnography. Caulfield and Hill simplify these reasonings for the reader and makes the frameworks a lot easier to digest. Progressing through the chapter, Caulfield and Hill discuss the two branches of interpreting findings which are Qualitative and Quantitative approaches. Drawing back to ontology and epistemology, our allegiances can often dictate the way in which findings and data are analysed. Examples given in the book included - SPSS, Coding and thematic review. Caulfield and Hill broke down these methods and provided case studies where they have been used which I think is extremely useful in both the theoretical and applied sense. These reviews are another key example of where reflexivity can be considered by the reader for their own research aims and which method, they would use to analyse the data they have gathered, in both a primary and secondary sense.

Another key element within this book which makes understanding applied criminological research easier is the templates provided throughout. Caulfield and Hill backed up their teachings by displaying to the reader scenarios, case studies and templates of where the teachings can be applied. For example, the methods of conducting a questionnaire and survey was discussed, and to simplify the context for readers, a table was provided with a mock survey and they clearly highlighted what was done correctly and where common mistakes were made.

Drawing back my original point of reflexivity for readers of the book, it is clear that for any task even that of conducting a questionnaire or survey for both primary and secondary research purposes that critical thinking and analysis of all work must be reflected upon at all stages of the research.

To conclude, I believe that Caulfield and Hill have provided an invaluable book for criminological researchers at both a beginner and experienced level. They have broken down the stages of conducting research from the literature review, methodology, ethics, data collection and analysis as well as the theoretical underpinnings within research and how criminologists and social scientists have gathered them over time. I would recommend this book be a core reading material for students and researchers.