Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The ethics of researching the police : dilemmas and new directions.

Skinns, Layla; Wooff, Andrew; Sprawson, Amy

Authors

Layla Skinns

Amy Sprawson



Contributors

Mark Brunger
Editor

Stephen Tong
Editor

Denise Martin
Editor

Abstract

This chapter examines key ethical dilemmas faced by social science researchers. It explores informed and voluntary consent, confidentiality and anonymity, and relationships in the field, but with specific reference to research on the police, drawing on the experiences of the authors in a variety of different policing research settings and providing examples to illuminate how these issues arise and may be resolved. Furthermore, we consider new directions for ethical research on the police by examining how longstanding ethical concerns - in particular about relationships in the field - may be affected by changes in the research climate such as the growing demand for impactful research and the use of innovative methodological techniques in police studies (e.g. appreciative enquiry).

Citation

Skinns, L., Wooff, A., & Sprawson, A. (2015). The ethics of researching the police : dilemmas and new directions. In M. Brunger, S. Tong, & D. Martin (Eds.), Introduction to policing research : taking lessons from practice (185-203). Routledge

Acceptance Date Nov 30, 2015
Publication Date Nov 30, 2015
Deposit Date Jul 20, 2016
Publisher Routledge
Pages 185-203
Book Title Introduction to policing research : taking lessons from practice.
Chapter Number 14
ISBN 9780415750400, 9781138013292, 9781315795294
Keywords social science, police studies
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/311398