Significance of Language, Culture, and Communication in Researching Post-Soviet Crime and Policing

• NCJ Number: 214224
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 137-156
• Author(s): Annette Robertson
• Date Published: May 2006
• Length: 20 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Drawing on research conducted by the author, her colleagues, and researchers in the post-Soviet states of Russia and Ukraine, this article discusses the main problems associated with language, communication, and culture when conducting cross-national research in criminology and criminal justice.

Abstract

Language is an obstacle when a nonnative researcher is conducting a cross-national study that involves conversations and interactions with research participants whose primary language differs from that of the researcher. The researcher's ability to speak the language of the country being studied facilitates access to people, places, and data, as well as understanding of the perspectives, experiences, and attitudes of the people involved in the research. For researchers who do not speak the language of the country being studied, translation and interpretation can be a satisfactory alternative, provided it is well done. The success of cross-national research, however, depends on adaptations to the foreign culture as well as its language. This involves having an awareness and appreciation of how a society's culture influences its institutions and people. The researcher must be familiar with and adapt to the social, legal, political, ideological, and historical facets of a society. For cross-national studies in crime and criminal justice, this requires an in-depth understanding of the philosophy and practices of institutions that provide data for crime analysis. This is critical to understanding the country's policing methods, crime prevention approaches, and the punishment and rehabilitation of offenders, for example. The data-collection and analysis stage is where ambiguity, inconsistency, and misunderstanding are most likely to occur. This requires adaptation to the context and methods linked to primary and secondary data collection and analysis. The triangulation of methods is most likely to produce meaningful comparative research. 9 notes and 59 references