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13 Criminology & Crim. Just. 3 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/crmcj13 and id is 1 raw text is: Article Criminology & Criminal justice 13(1) 3-20 Doing 'strengths-based' TeAto~)21 @ The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: research: Appreciative Inquiry sagepub.co.uI/journalsPermissions.nav DOl: 10. 1177/1748895812445621 in a probation setting cisgpbcr in a crj.sagepub.com pSAGE Gwen Robinson, Camilla Priede, Stephen Farrall and Joanna Shapland University of Sheffield, UK Fergus McNeill University of Glasgow, UK Abstract This article considers the application of Appreciative Inquiry (Al) as a research methodology in the field of probation research. Although Al has previously been used in prisons research it has not to date been applied to research on probation. In this article we describe why and how Al was applied in an exploratory study of 'quality' in probation practice. The article includes some reflections from us as researchers and from the participants in our study (staff in three English Probation Trusts). It is argued not only that Al served our project well (in terms of furnishing us with a wealth of relevant, good quality data) but also that our choice of methodology rendered visible aspects of contemporary probation culture which, we believe, would have remained hidden had we not chosen to explore quality through an 'appreciative' lens. It is further argued that in organizations experiencing challenging times, an appreciative stance has ethical as well as instrumental advantages. There are, thus, both instrumental and normative rationales for recommending Al as a suitable approach in probation research. Keywords Appreciative Inquiry, methodology, probation, quality, research Introduction As a research methodology, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is still in its infancy, but it has recently come to the attention of researchers in the criminal justice field via the Corresponding author: Gwen Robinson, University of Sheffield, School of Law, Bartolome House, Winter Street, S3 7ND, UK Email: GJ.Robinson@sheffield.ac.uk

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