NCJ Number
190252
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2001 Pages: 421-430
Editor(s)
Geoffrey Pearson
Date Published
2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this article was to discuss the debate about method and criminology and reach beyond traditional approaches to crime and violence in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
This article attempted to open up discussions about the difficulties in researching order, disorder, and violence in the United Kingdom. The difficulties were seen as inevitable and included: emotional reactions to the subject matter, feelings of ambivalence towards and allegiance with those being researched, and discovering the best way of capturing and understanding what violence means without jeopardizing one’s own safety. This article shared the authors’ thoughts on the debate about methodology and criminology and how through debates discoveries were made that challenged contemporary debate about crime. It was acknowledged that criminological research, especially violence, would raise dilemmas for researchers that involve: emotional distress, heightened adrenaline, fear, sometimes trauma, anger, and anxiety. Researchers have to draw on their personal, emotional, and human resources on bodies of knowledge that lie beyond the orbit of traditional academic discourse, in order to be faithful to and good at their job. Effective research is grounded in investments in innovation and learning how to be creative.