This is a comprehensive and engaging guide to research methods in Criminology. Written for undergraduate students and novice researchers, this book has been designed as a lively and accessible guide to planning, conducting and reporting research in the subject. It emphasises practical skills required in studying Criminology, the importance of criminological research, and places related methodology firmly in the context of study and research. This book includes contemporary examples and case studies, and a thorough and accessible practical guide that students can return to at each stage of their research. This book covers: an examination of the theoretical, political and ethical debates in criminological research; a complete guide to planning criminological research, assisting student researchers in identifying their research questions, choosing their research methods and critiquing the available literature; guidance on the practicalities and processes of collecting data; a discussion of the process of analysing data and writing up research. This text includes an extensive glossary and an integrated companion website with extra examples, exercises and videos to further develop students' understanding of Criminology.

This is the essential student companion for any criminological mixed methods research project, which has become increasingly prominent within criminological teaching and research. The book is structured so that it charts the course of a criminological mixed methods study. Starting with an introduction to mixed methods and its implications for criminology and criminological research, the book then works systematically through the planning stages of a research project. The book also presents a range of real-life mixed methods case studies, to demonstrate how the techniques outlined in this book have been employed.

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.

This volume investigates the significant role qualitative research plays in expanding and refining our understandings of crime and justice. It features seventeen original essays that discuss the relationship between methodology and theory. The result is a theoretically engaged volume that explores the approaches of qualitative scholars in the collection and treatment of data in criminological scholarship. Key issues addressed include methodological rigor in qualitative research; movement between method, theory building, theoretical refinement and expansion; diversity of qualitative methodologies, from classic field research to contemporary innovations; and considerations of the future of qualitative criminological research.

Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology is a core text for criminology and criminal justice research methods courses. It strives to offer a general foundation of knowledge that transcends particular topics or subject areas, allowing students to apply research methods and concepts to a multitude of scenarios. Even though the textbook has been written primarily for criminal justice and criminology majors, there is an underlying recognition that research methods and findings are common among all of the social sciences. This text has been designed to be user-friendly, even when dealing with some fairly complex statistical and theoretical concepts. The most critical points are clearly stated and illustrated with examples chosen to be interesting in their own right.

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. 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. The Handbook covers topics such as: 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.

Criminological research lies at the heart of criminological theory, influences social policy development, as well as informs criminal justice practice. The ability to collect, analyze and present empirical data is a core skill every student of criminology must learn. Written as an engaging step-by-step guide and illustrated by detailed case studies, this book guides the reader in how to analyze criminological data. Key features include: guidance on how to identify a research topic and question, design a research study, and write up and present research findings; a thorough account of the development of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies within the emergence of criminology as an academic discipline; detailed coverage of different forms of qualitative and quantitative data analysis used by criminologists and other social scientists; relevant and up-to-date case studies, drawn from internationally published criminological research sources; clear and accessible chapter content supported by helpful introductions, concise summaries, self-study questions and suggestions for further reading.