1. Field Research
Researcher talks directly with and observes the people being studied.
Researcher learns about:
Life Histories
Habits
Criminal Background
Life Adjustments

2. Field Research: Op-John Police Decoy Stings

3. Identifying Major Themes: Too Pretty to Prostitute
Appearance
Mannerisms
Posturing

4. Themes: Negotiating the Deal
Dirty Talk
Looking for a date?
Are you a cop?
A six-pack of beer

5. The Subculture of SWAT: Where Men Can Be Men

6. Should Women be on SWAT? Mean Age = 40 Mean Age = 39
Male Officers
Mean Age = 40
Experience = 15 years
Women on SWAT:
58% Yes
37% Yes-But
5% No
Female Officers
Mean Age = 39
Experience = 13 years
Want to be on SWAT:
58% Yes
50% Physically Able

7. The Male Perspective: Physical Challenge
“Would fit in fine, if she was physically able.”
“If she could pull my shattered back out of a kill zone or she could pick up the biggest guy and drag him out of a kill zone, I could respect that.”
“Once they see what we do, the demands that are put on guys, she’d want no part of it—after they get a taste of what we do.”

8. Female Perspective: Physical Challenge
“Qualifications are made for men who, unfortunately, have the upper body strength that women do not.”
“It would be very challenging, but I felt I could not pass the qualifications.”
“Physically, I could never equal male officer’s physical strengths and stamina since
I’m 5’2” and weigh half of what they do.”

9. Ethnography Ethno = people or folk graphy = describing something
Description of a culture and understanding another way of life from the “native” point of view.

10. Focus Groups Interviews in group discussions. 6 to 12 people.
Non-directive.
Free expression of opinions/ideas.
Empowerment.
Facilitates development and interpretation of quantitative surveys.

11. Case Studies
Methodological approach that incorporates a number of data-gathering measures.
Ranges from field studies to interviews with individuals or groups, or an entire community.
May include life histories, documents, oral histories, in-depth interviews, participant observation.

12. Coding Qualitative Data
Codes are tags or labels for assigning units of meaning to the descriptive or inferential information….Codes usually are attached to “chunks” of varying size—words, phrases, sentences or whole paragraphs…
Miles and Humberman, 1994