Getting to the Heart of it

Socio-Legal Research Methods Forum

Monday 24 May 2010

Dr Susan Dennison, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Dr Elena Marchetti, Griffith Law School

2

Introduction

Why do empirical work?

Qualitative vs quantitative

Importance of research questions

Examples

Reference materials

3

Why do empirical research?

It’s fun

Allows you to travel

Human intuition is flawed and very subjective

Answers questions you could otherwise not answer

Sometimes the only way to get answers for your research questions

Can apply for grants

Increases the range of peer-reviewed journals available as an outlet for your work

4

What others say about qualitative analysis

Explicit and implicit methods and ‘winging it’

5

What is qualitativeresearch?

How do YOU define qualitative research?

6

What is qualitativeresearch?

Berg says qualitative research refers to:

“the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and descriptions of things.”

7

What is qualitativeresearch?

Can include the following methods:

interviewingparticipant observationobservation of experimental natural settingsuse of photographs or imageryhistorical analysisdocument and textual analysisethnographic research

What is quantitative research?

Essentially involves reducing everything into a numerical system:

Categories (e.g., gender: 1 = male, 2 = female)Rankings (most to least important)Scales (e.g., attitudes)Continuous (e.g. sentence lengths, charges)

What is quantitative research?

Allows you to:

Make comparisons

Make predictions

Describe trends

Identify differences

Describe relationships

Use statistical analyses

Tip!

If you want to obtain some quantitative data but haven’t been trained in quantitative methods or statistical analysis, collaborate with a colleague in the social sciences (e.g., psychology, criminology, economics) before you begin the research…

…there is only so much you can do with poor data at the end of a project…

Even if you think you know what you are doing, it is always useful to get feedback on a research design and methodology from your peers

11

The importance of research questions

Your research questions will determine what your methodology is

Try to develop questions that can be answered

Research questions should probe or be identifying a puzzle to be solved – they don’t ask questions that can be answered by looking up a textbook or doing a Google search

Research questions should be informed by theory and thorough knowledge of the literature (relevant to your discipline)

Sound research questions are they key to your research – but most people struggle with this

Don’t start your research until you can articulate your research question/s

12

Examples - Susan

ARC Linkage: ‘Vulnerable families: A study of the impact of parental offending and incarceration on children’s developmental outcomes’

Vulnerable Families project

The starting point…we do not yet understand:How many children in Qld are affected by paternal incarceration

Differential impact of paternal incarceration versus paternal criminality

Mechanisms through which incarceration exerts an effect on children

The type and timing of interventions/programs that may assist children and their families

The underpinning theories are developmental systems theory (psychology) and life-course theory (criminology)

Research Question 1

How many male prisoners are parents?

Quantify parental status (therefore quantitative design)

Produce estimates of number of children in QLD with father in prison

Methodological considerations:

Snapshot of prisoners over a short period (cross-sectional)

Issue of representative sentence lengths and other demographics

Eligible participants - all new intakes in Qld prisons over a 6-month period (Oct 2008 – March 2009)

Research Question 2

In what capacity do male prisoners engage in parenting?

Themes/events to be exploredContact and relationship with childRelationship with caregiverParenting style and role modellingMaintaining contact with child and potential problemsHow being in prison has changed child’s lifeCircumstances upon release

Method for RQ2

Interview approx 100 male prisoners serving the last quarter of their sentence who have children under 18 years

Mixed methodQualitative data through semi-structured interviews (approx 1 hour)Quantitative data through official records and survey (sentence length, prior sentences, age, number of children, age of children, employment, education, indigenous status, marital status etc)

Aim to obtain a representative mix of non-Indigenous, urban Indigenous and remote and rural Indigenous men

Research Question 3

3a: Does parental incarceration exert an effect on children over and above parental criminality?

3b: How does parental incarceration affect children’s developmental outcomes over time?

3c: How do parental transitions from prison to home affect children’s developmental outcomes?

Method for RQ3

Sample will comprise 100 families with an incarcerated father and 100 families with a father serving a community correctional order

Two waves of data collection (more in future)

Mixed method using structured questionnaires, validated scales, and semi-structured interviews

Data will be collected from caregiver’s and children (5 -17 yrs) relating to: family background, child measures, parent-child relationships, the offender parent, neighbourhood characteristics, support networks, service access, and government records (education, juvenile justice)

19

Examples - Elena

ARC Project: ‘Sentencing Indigenous offenders of partner violence: A fundamental comparative analysis of Indigenous sentencing courts and specialist family violence courts’

20

Examples - Elena

Research questions:

What unique contribution do Indigenous sentencing courts make in addressing Indigenous partner violence that may not be present in specialist family violence courts?

What can each type of court process learn form the other?

21

Examples - Elena

Subsidiary questions:

In what ways (if at all) do the courts change an offender’s behaviour?

What benefits of the courts do victims identify? Do these differ, and is one court perceived to be better than another?

What Indigenous-specific mechanisms exist in the Indigenous sentencing courts that may not exist in the family violence courts? Conversely, what gender- or victim-specific mechanisms exist in the family violence courts that may not exist in the Indigenous sentencing courts?

22

Examples - Elena

Subsidiary questions:

What is the impact of the Indigenous sentencing courts on wider community perceptions of responses to partner violence?

Are the processes culturally appropriate, according to Kelly’s (2002) criteria?

23

Examples - Elena

Four different methods

Interviews of court workers and Elders; interviews of victims and offenders

Observations of court processes

Thematic analysis of court transcripts

Statistical analysis of NSW court data comparing mainstream courts with Circle Courts

24

Examples - Elena

There are 7 court sites:

Nowra

Kempsey

Mt Isa

Rockhampton

Geraldton

ACT Circle Court

ACT Family Violence Court

25

Examples - Elena

Need to consider ethics and sampling strategies for interviews

26

Read, read, read!

Adler, Emily and Clark, Roger (2008). How it’s done: An invitation to social research, 3rd edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.Berg, Bruce L (2009) Qualitative research methods for the social sciences, 7th edition. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.Dancey, Christine P. and Reidy, John (2007). Statistics without maths for psychology, 4th edition. Essex, England: Pearson Education Ltd.Miles, Matthew B. and Huberman, A. Michael (1994) Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.Neuman, W. Lawrence (2005) Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches, 6th edition. Sydney: Allyn and Bacon.Silverman, David (2006) Interpreting qualitative data, 3rd edition. London: Sage.

Thank you …