Fieldwork Experiences in Criminology and Security Studies: Methods, Ethics, and Emotions

This book compiles the fieldwork experiences of 55 researchers, addressing the challenges, ethical considerations, and methodologies employed to study 30 diverse populations and phenomena within Criminology and Security Studies. This volume contributes to filling a gap in academic literature by highlighting the often unspoken realities and intricacies of fieldwork.

The book is systematically structured into five thematic sections: The Powerful, The Invisible, The Vulnerable, The Violent, and The Cyber. These categories encompass various aspects and dimensions of fieldwork, including managing emotional distress, negotiating access through gatekeepers, ensuring the protection of informants, and exercising discretion in navigating sensitive issues.

As a scholarly resource, this book is invaluable for academics, practitioners, and students involved in criminology, security studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science. By offering in-depth reflections and insights, this volume enhances the reader’s understanding of the nuances of fieldwork, and informs the development of robust and ethical research practices.

Chapters 2, 9 and 11 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. 

Antonio M. Díaz-Fernández 

Antonio Díaz is an Associate Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Cadiz (Spain). He holds a doctorate in Political Science and Administration from the University of Barcelona and has been awarded university degrees in Law and Political Science. He also holds a Master's Degree in Peace, Security, and Defence awarded by the University Institute ‘General Gutiérrez Mellado’. He is a member of the Doctorate Committee of Security Studies, Criminology, and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Cadiz. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Cadiz. Antonio Díaz has been a visiting research fellow at the King’s College London, Brunel Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (Brunel University, London), the University of Glasgow, and Dublin City University. He has been recognized with prizes in 1997 and 2003 from the Spanish Ministry of Defence for his research on security. He previously served as the deputy editor of The International Journal of Intelligence, Security, and Public Affairs and has worked as an expert evaluator in the FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe, and MSCA programs. Currently, he manages the cooperative agreement between the University of Cadiz and the Spanish Intelligence Service. He is also a member of the Forum against disinformation campaigns in the field of National Security of the National Security Department, which is attached to the Office of the Presidency in the current Spanish Government.

Cristina Del-Real 

Cristina Del-Real is an Assistant Professor of Cyber Crisis at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University (The Netherlands), and Research Fellow at The Hague Program on International Cyber Security. She is part of the NWO-funded project ‘Cyber Security by Integrated Design’ (C-SIDe). Her research explores the intersection between society, technology and security policy, with specific areas of interest in cyber crisis governance in public and private organizations. Cristina’s other areas of interest include public perception of intelligence agencies, security governance in smart cities, and research ethics. She has worked on online research methods to study hidden populations and the ethical and emotional risks of working with sensitive topics in criminology. She has been a visiting researcher at the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (University of Tennessee, USA) and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (University of Glasgow, UK).

Lorena Molnar 

Lorena Molnar is a junior lecturer at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and a scientific collaborator at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HETS-FR). She holds a PhD in criminology from the University of Lausanne. Her main domains of interest are the victimisation of hard-to-reach vulnerable populations, crime prevention andcomparative criminology. She has conducted studies on the victimisation and drug use of sex workers, of the homeless and people of Roma ethnicity. She is also a member of the SPACE (Statistiques Pénales Annuelles du Conseil de l’Europe) team and of the European Sourcebook Group and co-author of the sixth edition of the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics.