An Ethnographic Account of Doing Survey Research in Prison: Descriptions, Reflections, and Suggestions from the Field

James Sutton

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.07.2.02

Authors

James Sutton California State University, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.07.2.02

Keywords:

Field Research, Survey Research, Total Institution, Incarceration, Prison, Ethnography, Reflective Research

Abstract

This article presents an ethnographic account of my day-to-day experiences as a survey researcher in men’s prisons in the United States. I outline challenges I encountered in the field and share personal reflections on interviewing people who are incarcerated. I then put forth a series of implications and suggestions for those who plan to conduct similar studies. Researchers’ firsthand accounts of the data collection process and research settings are crucial because they provide instruction for other scholars. Yet, these aspects of doing research are conventionally ignored in survey researchers’ scholarly publications. Accordingly, this article presents an examination of my work as a survey researcher through an interpretive frame, calls for reflective approaches to conducting quantitative research, and provides a primer on doing research in prison settings.

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Author Biography

James Sutton, California State University, USA

James Sutton is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico. He has teaching and research interests in several areas of sociology, including criminology, deviance, gender, and the sociology of sport. His current research projects include an examination of political crime and a study of inmate-on-inmate sexual assault.

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