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

Skinns, Layla; Wooff, Andrew; Sprawson, Amy

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. Taylor & Francis (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