The craft of doing qualitative research in prison

In this article we examine the characteristics, challenges and added value of qualitative prison research in a Belgian context. As the many dynamics and challenges of qualitative research are often underreported in academic publications, we pay particular attention to the research process and the pains and gains of qualitative prison research. Drawing on experiences from several research projects, the different steps of gaining access to the field as a constant process of negotiation are described. Secondly, we discuss the dilemmas of prison research based on two ethnographic studies. We end with a discussion on the added value of a qualitative approach to understanding what is at stake in prison and how it fits with a critical research position

Publication year:2015

Keywords:prison studies, qualitative research