Researchers Inside the Prison Walls: Methodological and Ethical Reflections on Doing Research With Women in Prison

This article addresses the methodological and ethical challenges in doing research with women in marginalised position in the closed institutional setting of prison. It aims to show that along with formal access issues, it is crucial to acknowledge the positions and complex relationships of the different actors – researchers, female inmates and prison staff – throughout the research process. Researchers must adapt to the institutional requirements and the limitations of physical space and follow rigid formal ethical guidelines. In the name of protection, institutional and ethical requirements might limit and ignore people’s own willingness to participate in research, and hinder obtaining research-based knowledge, increasing public awareness and developing professional interventions to improve services for a marginalised group of people. Researchers must also accept that (potential) research participants do not always share their aims and good intentions, and that our research does not necessarily bring any positive change to participants’ lives.