An Examination of the Researcher Guard Role: Bringing Prison Fieldwork into the 21st Century

Authors

Scott Chenault, University of Central Missouri

Abstract

"In 1986, James Marquart published a seminal article on qualitative methodology in Justice Quarterly. In that piece he presented the strengths and weaknesses associated with the researcher guard role he used while conducting a prison ethnography in Texas. His method led to data that is still central to our understanding of prison culture. However, in the past 30 years, correctional philosophy and practice have undergone significant shifts in the United States. Despite these shifts, there has been a dramatic decrease in prison ethnography during the same time period. This article presents a modern adaptation of Marquart’s method, based on a recently completed ethnography of officer culture in a Midwestern state."

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Chenault, Scott (2014) "An Examination of the Researcher Guard Role: Bringing Prison Fieldwork into the 21st Century," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 2: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol2/iss2/2