NCJ Number
190254
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2001 Pages: 443-459
Editor(s)
Geoffrey Pearson
Date Published
2001
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article investigated teenage girls’ views and experiences of violence and violent behavior, placing them in the context of their everyday lives. It looked at the everyday understandings, conceptualizations, and experiences of ‘ordinary’ girls.
Abstract
This paper explored key methodological and analytical issues encountered in an exploratory study of teenage girls’ views and experiences of violence in Scotland. In order to comprehend girls’ relationships to violence, it was necessary to understand the social, material and gendered circumstances of their lives, and how they lived their lives and made sense of their actions, by drawing on their personal accounts. The focus was on girls drawn from a range of socio-economic and class backgrounds living in a variety of locations across Scotland. The paper utilized a range of methods including field notes, self-report questionnaires, small-group discussions, and individual, in-depth conversations. This study was characterized as feminist on the basis of epistemological positioning and the methodological decisions made in advance of commencing the study. The imperatives structuring the research along with the volatile and sensitive nature of the research topic (violence) and the age and gender of those taking part (teenage girls) throw up methodological, analytical, and ethical dilemmas and practical challenges forming the basis for discussion. Drawing on feminist debates about objectivity, the role of the researcher, power relationships in the production of knowledge, and representation, the paper highlighted the difficulties of adapting such principles to the day-to-day practicalities of conducting empirical research on girls and violence. References