Research for the front lines

Abstract

It is a truism in the sociology of science that scientific knowledge bears the imprint of particular perspectives, interests, and values. In social science, it is especially common to find that research serves the needs of managers and policymakers better than it serves the needs of front-line workers. This paper analyzes the traces of that tendency in police research. By examining three features of front-line police work (the need to improve programs rather than assess them, the need to attend to an enormous number of situational details, and the need to cope with ambiguous and contradictory goals), I argue that common approaches to police research address managerial and policy concerns better than line officer concerns. To help rectify this imbalance, I discuss three variations on an alternative research strategy that deserves more emphasis in policy-oriented police research*one grounded in concrete case study description and analysis that often eschews causal generalizations.It is a truism in the sociology of science that all knowledge bears the imprint of particular perspectives, interests, and values, so that any particular scientific program serves the priorities of some groups rather than others. From a normative viewpoint it is not even clear that this influence is always nefarious. Aristotelians once valorized a disinterested approach to scientific inquiry, but the idea that knowledge should strive to advance specific human interests is at least as old as Francis Bacon, who insisted that 'it is by witness of works, rather than by logic or even observation, that truth is revealed and established.' As Bacon himself went on to note: 'It follows that the improvement of man's mind and the improvement of his lot are one and the same thing' (Farrington 1948: 93). From this perspective, scientists' views about what it means to 'improve man's lot'*and about whose lot in particular they should try to improve*unavoidably influence the scientific agenda.To claim a connection between truth and (non-cognitive) values is faintly scandalous for the obvious reasons, but at the general level I have invoked this claim it is impossible to deny. At minimum, no one doubts that the questions scientists ask are legitimately shaped by human interests, so which truths they discover (if not the very fact that those truths are true) depends on the interests to which they and those who influence their work are committed (e.g., Taylor 1985). That conclusion is so undeniable that the distinguished and decidedly non-radical philosopher of science William Newton-Smith (1984) dubbed it 'Boring Interest Thesis 1', and it is amply illustrated by agricultural and health research that serves first-world needs more effectively than third-world needs (e.g., by developing cures for diseases associated

In search of a methodology of collaboration: understanding researcher–practitioner philosophical differences in policing

“…Bradley et al, 2006;Canter, 2004;Engel & Whalen, 2010;International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2011;Neyroud, 2009;Scott, 2010;Sherman, 2004;Thacker, 2008). The perceived practical orientation of police vs. the theoretical, knowledge-seeking orientation of academicians is often cited as a root cause of the 'science-craft dichotomy' (Johnston & Shearing, 2009, p. 417).…”

“…Email: bsteinheider@ou.edu Police, 2011;Sherman, 1998;Thacker, 2008). However, as long as researchers and practitioners continue to think of themselves as 'worlds apart,' theory and practice cannot inform and improve each other.…”

Extending the remit of evidence-based policing

“…There are those who object to the privileging of the 'scientist' (Punch, 2016;Sparrow, 2011;Thacher, 2008). Sparrow (2011:5) argues "experience and skills count too; there are myriad ways of discovering useful truths without the elaborate machinery of social science evaluations".…”

“…The experimental approach is not uncontentious (Knutsson and Tompson, 2017;Wood et al, 2017;van Dijk, Hoogewoning and Punch, 2016;Greene, 2014;Laycock, 2012;Sparrow, 2011;Hough, 2011Hough, , 2010Thacher, 2008Thacher, , 2001. Amongst the areas of challenge are: the epistemological value of a medical model applied to policing; appropriateness of and concerns about ethical aspects of RCTs; and the potential loss of informative research using non-experimental methods, which results from a wariness to include non-scientific inputs such as police experiences.…”

“…Thacher (2008) and Punch (2016) provide a list of alterative research methods that have been successfully adopted in policing research and cite exemplars of published studies utilising these. Also sensible, is Laycock and Tilley's (2016) suggestion for a triangulation of results from different research methods, with greater weight given to findings pointing in the same direction when derived from different research traditions.…”