ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the relationship between the context and processes of research. It identifies some of the constraints that affect the process of research. The chapter also discusses the relationship between power and knowledge. It explores the role of values in criminological research. For those who are new to criminological research it is common to assume that researchers do not bring values and preconceptions to the research process. Stout et al. argue that as crime is such a political issue criminologists have an ethical duty to 'expose the relationship between governmental agendas and knowledge production'. Consideration of the context of criminological research will involve engagement with the role of values in the research process. The chapter explains the relationship between power and knowledge in order to reveal the ways in which supposedly neutral research questions are shaped by political imperatives and financial constraints. K. Murray discusses how the findings of research that challenges political imperatives may be neutralised and undermined.
