Critical Qualitative Theory: Opening up the Black Box of Criminal Justice Interventions

Pages129-141
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7863(2012)0000013010
Date21 May 2012
Published date21 May 2012
AuthorMatt Barnard
CRITICAL QUALITATIVE
THEORY: OPENING UP THE
BLACK BOX OF CRIMINAL
JUSTICE INTERVENTIONS
Matt Barnard
ABSTRACT
There has been an increasing realisation within government circles that
gaining insight into how and why an intervention works or does not is as
important as measuring any change that it brings about. Without
understanding the mechanisms for change, ensuring that the intervention
is effective when transposed to different contexts can be highly challenging.
However, while the need for high-quality, robust qualitative research is
recognised, the theoretical and methodological tools available to research-
ers within the field have not kept up. Government-commissioned evaluation
requires a methodology that provides genuine insight into how policy and
interventions work on the ground and findings that can be generalised
beyond the specific samples upon which they are based. In order to fill this
conceptual gap, NatCen Social Research has developed an approach to
qualitative research that draws on a wide range of existing traditions but
that is robust and coherent enough to meet the needs of CJS evaluations.
Recent work has led to a new articulation of this approach and a new
Perspectives on Evaluating Criminal Justice and Corrections
Advances in Program Evaluation, Volume 13, 129–141
Copyright r2012 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
ISSN: 1474-7863/doi:10.1108/S1474-7863(2012)0000013010
129

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