About the research
Qualitative studies on crime and social control range across a number of academic disciplines including criminology, sociology and law.
They date back to the classic studies of the first half of the twentieth century although it is the ground breaking research of the 1960s and 1970s, such as that of Stan Cohen’s work on Mods and Rockers, that brought the relatively new field of the ‘sociology of deviance’ and later ‘criminology’ to the forefront of British sociology.
Studies, held by the UK Data Service, such as Ian Loader’s work on changes in policing since the bygone age of the ‘British Bobby’, usefully bridge earlier concerns with newer ones such as crime prevention, social control, the fear of crime and international comparisons of law enforcement policy.
or a researcher looking for qualitative data on the fear of crime an examination of Hollway and Jefferson’s study Gender Difference, Anxiety and the Fear of Crime, held at UK Data Service, would be an excellent place to start.
Impact
How could the data be used for research?
Use of this study for further research into the fear of crime would have value in such areas as methodology, comparative research, rich examples, re-analysis and new or extended research questions. The study addresses the following topics: anxiety; childhood; community life; crime; crime victims; fear of crime; gender; psychoanalysis; risk; and violence.
Hollway and Jefferson used a new and innovative methodological approach in their research which has achieved considerable influence. They developed the psycho-social research method that combines both sociological and psychological accounts of identity, experience and relationships. The method involved conducting two interviews. The first was designed to elicit a narrative response using a free association technique. The second, conducted a week later, was based on follow-up questions resulting from listening symptomatically to the first interview on audiotape in order to identify areas where anxiety was obtruding in the account. Immediately after the interviews, the researchers made notes of their impressions. As well as the usual observations, they recorded what clinical psychoanalysts call the ‘counter transference’; that is, the researcher’s emotional responses to the interviewee and their story. The purpose of this was to provide further information about unconscious communications.
‘Well there’s this – there has been quite a few burglaries. I mean I remember er, one particular night – we used to sleep in back bedroom and I – it’ll be about 3 o’clock in morning. I ‘eard this banging, and er, I woke up. Went downstairs and the banging were about 150 yards down road. And somebody were breaking into house – we found that out the following day. Following morning. (sigh). If it woke me up, why didn’t it wake some of other neighbours up? Because it were a really – din they were making – these burglars to get in, and they got in. But nobody seemed to bother.’ (TJ/Arthur Interview 1, 26 October 1995. Int3.)
As can be seen from the quote above, the study is full of rich examples that could be useful to future researchers in describing the attributes, attitudes and behaviour of individuals and groups from the time of the original project. These examples could provide a useful means for comparative research between then and now. Indeed there is the possibility of re-analysis by asking new questions of this rich data. In addition there is also the potential to retrace and expand on the original research.
Finding the data
The study Gender Difference, Anxiety and the Fear of Crime can be found by searching our data catalogue under the principal investigators, the title or the study number.
The catalogue record provides a comprehensive overview of the study, including abstract, sample information and methodological detail about the interviews which were conducted.
User documentation for this study, including both a user guide in PDF and a data list in Excel, can be downloaded from our data catalogue.
Users can take advantage of the documentation to familiarise themselves further with the archived material. Study-related documentation can be accessed by either scrolling to the bottom of the catalogue record or by clicking on the documentation link at the top of the page.
In the data list file, users can have a closer look at key characteristics of the study participants, such as age, occupation, gender, race, date of interview, etc.
Users can also access a study-specific user guide which provides a comprehensive view on how the study was designed and then carried out. This 42-page document is in searchable, PDF format which makes it easier to browse for any terms of interest.
Publications related to the study
By Principal Investigator(s):
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (2000) Doing qualitative research differently: free association, narrative, and the interview method, London: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-6425-8.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (2000) ‘Anxiety, biography and the experience of locality’ in P. Chamberlayne, J. Bornat and T. Wengraf (eds.) The turn to biographical methods in social science: comparative issues and examples, London: Routledge. ISBN 0-2034-6604-7.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (2000) ‘Narrative, discourse and the unconscious: a case study of Tommy’ in M. Andrews et al (eds.) Lines of narrative: psychosocial perspectives, London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24233-9.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (2000) ‘The role of anxiety in fear of crime’ in R. Sparks and T. Hope (eds.) Crime, risk and insecurity: law and order in everyday life and political discourse, London: Routledge. ISBN 0-4152-4343-2.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (1999) ‘Methodology, narrative and the defended subject’ in Proceedings of the IX International Oral History Conference, Sweden: University of Goteborg, pp.834-843.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (1999) ‘Gender, generation, anxiety and the reproduction of culture: a family case study’ in R. Josselson and A. Lieblich Making meaning of narratives in the narrative study of lives, pp.107-139. ISBN 0-7619-0326-7.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (1997) ‘Eliciting narrative through the in-depth interview’ Qualitative Inquiry 3(1), March, pp.53-70.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (1997) ‘The risk society in an age of anxiety: situating fear of crime’ British Journal of Sociology, 48(2), pp.255-266.
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (1996) ‘PC or not PC: sexual harassment and the question of ambivalence’ Human Relations, 49(3), pp.373-393.