ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the police research in the country Northern Ireland. It also examines the issue of accessing the police, researcher conduct and ethics, along with controversies and wider applicability of undertaking police research in a post-conflict landscape. The chapter outlines the key methodological issues and lessons of conducting police research in an environment where knowledge about policing can become as contested as the activities of the police themselves. One of the key lessons for the prospective police researcher in the country is the acute need to grasp that social science research methodologies, need to be carefully tailored to the social, political and security climate in which policing is delivered. McLoughlin and Miller have argued that because Northern Ireland remains intensely politicised and especially policing and security, the neutrality of the external researcher whether in police or community contexts, is infinitely more difficult than would normally be associated with qualitative research approaches.
