ABSTRACT
Research strategies and designs are geared to the collection and analysis of data in relation to the key problems of the criminological enterprise. A basic assumption has been made here that this enterprise is characterized by plurality. There is plurality in terms of the range of questions which can be asked of crime. These include questions about the nature of crime, the extent of crime, the explanations of crime but they go much further than this to encompass questions about the way in which crime is experienced by victims, about the systems for the control, prevention and treatment of crime, and about the relationship between these systems and wider social structure. There is also plurality in terms of the institutional contexts within which research takes place, especially the institutional contexts of subjects, researchers, gatekeepers and sponsors. These locations, and the interests and powers which go with them, are important for the process of research and also for its outcome.
