OrientationObservationIn-depth interviewsDocument analysis and semiologyConversation and discourse analysisSecondary Data
SurveysExperimentsEthicsResearch outcomes
Conclusion
Dick Hobbs adopts a phenomenological approach in his study of petty criminals and the local CID in the East End of London. Hobbs argued that his research is about 'both formal and informal control strategies and the coercive regulatory power of the market place' (Hobbs, 1988, p. 1). He studied the police using the perspective of the petty criminals who also formed part of his research. Hobbs situated his research within the context of the development of the British police and the CID and the economic history of the East End of London.
This research is an ethnographic study that utilised participant observation and in-depth interviewing. Hobbs gained access to his subjects in a variety of ways:
from his local pub where CID officers also drank;
from his role as football coach of a team where one of the parents was also a CID officer;
from family and friends who were part of his life when he lived in the East End;
from police officers who agreed to be interviewed formally in their homes about CID procedures.
Hobb's research led to him spending time in a variety of pubs drinking with his research subjects. Some writers have argued that Hobb's ethnographic study was enriched due to his own background as he was born and lived in the East End of London. Thus, one could argue that Hobbs, as the researcher, was very much an insider and that this made his access, both to the petty criminals and the police, easier as he shared the same knowledge of the area as his research subjects. However, his relationship with the petty criminals was more sympathetic and involved than the relationship with the police, which was more constrained. In part, this was due to the racism and sexism displayed by the police respondents, which Hobbs found difficult to accept. Thus the data from the police was not as detailed as that from the petty criminals. One might argue, then, that the analysis was biased.
During the course of the research Hobbs used both overt and covert participant observation. He overtly observed the situation when he visited CID offices and covertly observed informants at clubs, in the pub and at parties.
Hobbs acknowledged that crime is a considerable problem for the working class in inner city areas but at the same time argues that if attention is focused on 'intra-class' crime it will result in more emphasis on the control and containment of working-class crime. Rather, Hobbs argued that the way the CID operated in the East End of London is very different from the way they operated in other areas. This difference is because of the culture of the East End. This culture is characterised by features such as independence, masculinity, acceptance of 'deviant identities' and, importantly, 'an entrepreneurial ability', which the police themselves have adopted.
Thus, Hobbs argues, the economic history of the East End of London has resulted in what he calls a 'trading culture', which is both accepting of petty crime and also affects the CID detectives' everyday practice. Hobbs then utilises this concept of 'trading culture' to analyse his informants understandings of their lives.
