Researching Healthcare Availability For Probation Clients: An Illustration Of Methodological Challenges And Lessons In Surveying Organisations
| Author | Coral Sirdifield, David Denney, Dr Rebecca Marples, Charlie Brooker |
| Pages | 41-58 |
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British Journal of Community Justice
©2019 Manchester Metropolitan University
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 15(2) 41–58
RESEARCHING HEALTHCARE AVAILABILITY FOR
PROBATION CLIENTS: AN ILLUSTRATION OF
METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES AND LESSONS IN
SURVEYING ORGANISATIONS
Coral Sirdifielda, David Denneyb, Rebecca Marplesa, and Charlie Brookerb
aSchool of Health and Social Care, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK; bSchool of Law, Royal
Holloway, University of London, London, UK
Abstract
This article critically reflects on the methodological approach used in a multi-method study
of healthcare provision for probation service clients in England. The study involved
gathering data from a range of large criminal justice and health organisations. Drawing on
the literature and us ing learning from this s tudy as an example, we address t wo central
questions which evolved during the research: why was it more dif ficult to gain access in
some organisations than others, and what methodological strategies might best improve
engagement with research in the future? We discuss gatekeeping, and the impact of
organisational resources, culture, responsibilities, change and objectives on engagement
with research. We make re commendations for future methodo logical approaches to
address these challenges, which ar e relevant to researchers in any discipline trying to
engage organisations in research.
Keywords
Probation; criminal justice; gaining access, gatekeepers, interdisciplinary research
Acknowledgements
This article presents ind ependent research funded by the National Institute for Health
Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-
0815-20012). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the
NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Declaration of interest statement
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Sirdifield, Denney, Marples and Brooker
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Introduction
This article provides an illustrative example of some of the challenges involved in attempting
to survey a large n umber and variety of health and criminal justice organisations. Through
critical reflection, it considers lessons in terms of what methodological strategies might best
improve engagement with such research in the future.
Firstly, it provides a brief overview of the research project that is being used as an illustrative
example. Secon dly, it considers existing recommendations within the previous literature
about how to improve engagement with surveys and overcome problems in gaining access
to research dat a. Thirdly, it critically reflects on the research team’s experience of the
challenges of following some of these recommendations. Finally, it charts the possible
origins of the problems that were encountered, an d the implications of this for improving
methodological approaches in future research.
Literature from around the world in a variety of research d isciplines relates difficulti es in
gaining research access and a concomitant decline in survey response rates. Efforts to raise
response rates hav e used such strategies as monetary incentives or repeated attempts to
contact sample members and obtain completed s urveys, bu t these strategies increase
research costs (Muñoz-Leina et al., 2010; Cho et al., 2013). Current trends in non-response,
if not halted, could compromise the potential of research to elicit data that assists in
understanding social and economic issues and concomitant policy development. High non-
response rates also create potential for risk of bias in estimates, and they affect survey
design, data collection, estimation and analysis (Meiklejohn et al., 2012). Such difficulties
have implications for both the design and conduct of research.
Whilst a body of li terature exists on survey design and administration, processes such as
negotiating access are rarely discussed in relation to survey research (Lindsay, 2005). There
is also a paucity of research on conducting surveys of staff specifica lly within the settin gs
that were of interest in our example study (namely probation, public health departments
and mental health trusts in England and Wales – see below). Likewise, there is a paucity of
literature o n how best to improve engagement with organisational-level (as opposed to
individual-level) surveys that aim to gather data from a large number and variety of
organisations. Exis ting accounts of gaining access to th ese research sites that were
identified in the literature were not focused on survey research, or related to gaining access
to service users rather than staff (see for example Reeves, 2010; Ahern et al., 2016; Sirdifield
et al., 2016). However, literature that exposes the bones of the research process is essential
if we are to conduct high-quality research involving staff in the health and justice field.
Consequently, we anticipate that this article will be useful for researchers in any discipline
who are attempting to survey a large number of organisation s. It may be of particular
interest to early career researchers and those wishing to conduct research with criminal
justice or health organisations.
The project
The research focused on mapping healthcare for probation service clients (i.e. offenders in
the community rather than secure establishments ) across England. This included mental
health, physical health and public health services that were provided specifically for
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