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- Title
Obstacles to Research in a State Prison: Regulated, Segregated and Under Surveillance.
- Authors
Zwerman, Gilda; Gardner, Gilbert
- Abstract
This discussion reviews two sociologist's efforts to conduct a series of interviews with a woman sentenced to long-term imprisonment in a state prison. These interviews were impeded by the state's intrusion into the research project, and the denial of "scholar's privileges" with respect to both access to the respondent and confidentiality of research data. The primary goal of this research is to explore the political and personal agenda of women who have stated their commitment to build an armed, clandestine, revolutionary movement in the U.S., and to analyze the individual and collective context in which they have lived. Both the respondent and the researchers were interested in taking an interactive approach to the research process. Specifically, this meant that interviews would consist of dialogue as well as structured questions and answers, and that the respondent would have the right to re- view any material before publication. Since the interviews with the respondent constituted data for sociological study, the status of "researcher" seemed the most appropriate way to enter the prison.
- Subjects
WOMEN prisoners; INTERVIEWING; SOCIOLOGISTS; CRIMINAL sentencing; NONFICTION; BEHAVIORAL scientists
- Publication
Qualitative Sociology, 1986, Vol 9, Issue 3, p293
- ISSN
0162-0436
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/BF00988403