TY - JOUR

T1 - “Snitches get stitches”

T2 - Researching both sides of illegal markets

AU - Potter, Lisa

AU - Potter, Gary

N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

PY - 2021/3/22

Y1 - 2021/3/22

N2 - The question of “taking sides” has received a lot of attention within qualitative criminology. Much of this has focused on the moral-philosophical or value-laden aspects of taking sides, following Becker’s 1967 essay ‘whose side are we on’. However, the question of taking sides also has methodological implications, especially for qualitative researchers who wish to study multiple sides of a criminological problem, such as the perspectives of offenders and law enforcement around a particular illegal activity. This paper considers some of the practical, ethical and analytical challenges of studying illegal markets from opposing sides – the market participants’ perspective on one side, and law enforcement on the other. It outlines the advantages of researching both sides: the improved validity and reliability that comes with exploring and trying to reconcile different perspectives and the potential this has for developing theory and policy. It then explores the challenges researchers may face when trying to engage with opposing sides in qualitative fieldwork. It pays particular attention to some practical and ethical questions researchers may face in this situation: who to research first, whether to be open about researching both sides, and whether researchers should ever share information they have received from one side with their participants from the other side.We do not offer absolute answers to these questions. Rather, we aim to outline some of the factors researchers may need to consider when juggling qualitative research involving participants on both sides of the law.

AB - The question of “taking sides” has received a lot of attention within qualitative criminology. Much of this has focused on the moral-philosophical or value-laden aspects of taking sides, following Becker’s 1967 essay ‘whose side are we on’. However, the question of taking sides also has methodological implications, especially for qualitative researchers who wish to study multiple sides of a criminological problem, such as the perspectives of offenders and law enforcement around a particular illegal activity. This paper considers some of the practical, ethical and analytical challenges of studying illegal markets from opposing sides – the market participants’ perspective on one side, and law enforcement on the other. It outlines the advantages of researching both sides: the improved validity and reliability that comes with exploring and trying to reconcile different perspectives and the potential this has for developing theory and policy. It then explores the challenges researchers may face when trying to engage with opposing sides in qualitative fieldwork. It pays particular attention to some practical and ethical questions researchers may face in this situation: who to research first, whether to be open about researching both sides, and whether researchers should ever share information they have received from one side with their participants from the other side.We do not offer absolute answers to these questions. Rather, we aim to outline some of the factors researchers may need to consider when juggling qualitative research involving participants on both sides of the law.

U2 - 10.1108/JOE-01-2020-0003

DO - 10.1108/JOE-01-2020-0003

M3 - Journal article

VL - 10

SP - 7

EP - 20

JO - Journal of Organizational Ethnography

JF - Journal of Organizational Ethnography

SN - 2046-6749

IS - 1

ER -