‘My best day will be my last day!’: appreciating appreciative inquiry in police research

Abstract

Appreciative Inquiry is a methodology originating from organisational psychology, though it has since been used in criminal justice research including police studies. It is used to identify the actual and potential strengths of an individual or an institution, with a view to building on these strengths in the future. The primary purpose of this paper is to assess the value of Appreciative Inquiry for police research, where its use is potentially confounded by aspects of police culture. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study, the 'good' police custody study, we critically examine the role of Appreciative Inquiry in enabling access and data collection through appreciatively-informed interviews, examining this from the perspective of the police, the policed and police researchers. We also illustrate how Appreciative Inquiry contributed to the theorisation process and to the development of theoretically-informed recommendations and organisational reforms, matters that are neglected in other police and criminal justice research. We conclude that certain aspects of police culture hinder its use, for example, the cynicism of frontline police officers, whilst the storytelling features of police culture and growing collaboration between police and researchers help overcome these barriers. Appreciative Inquiry must still be used reflexively in police research, recognising for example the tendency towards naïve optimism and its impacts on vulnerable participants. Nonetheless, in light of Appreciative Inquiry dovetailing with growing expectations that the police and academics should work more closely together, there are grounds for appreciating Appreciative Inquiry as an important part of a diverse police research agenda in the future.

‘Come on mate, let's make you a cup of tea’: Theorising materiality and its impacts on detainee dignity inside police detention

“…5. For further details, for example on informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, ethics and positionality see Skinns et al (2016Skinns et al ( , 2021Skinns et al ( , 2022). 6.…”

“…Mixed-methods data were collected in three phases, the second and third of which are pertinent to this article. In Phase 2, data were collected between March 2014 and May 2015, in four custody areas in four forces, drawing on the principles of appreciative inquiry (Skinns et al, 2021), and focusing on themes of risk, culture(s), power, fairness, justice, emotions and relationships, cost, governance and accountability. These four custody areas were given the pseudonyms Mill City, Stone Street, Combiville and Newtown and were selected as illustrative of different types of custody facilities, (public, private or hybrid) identified in Phase 1 (see Skinns et al, 2017b).…”

The moral and emotional world of police informants

“…Since the underlying principles of this approach emphasize the need for research participants to look inward and examine their feelings and emotional experiences, sociological introspection has been aptly described as a ‘soul-searching’ tool (Layder, 2004). This could be further encouraged by an appreciative stance which, although recognizing the negative aspects of informant policing practices, would also aim to understand any positive dimensions (see also Sheptycki, 2016; Skinns et al, 2021). Combining sociological introspection with appreciative inquiry is likely to encourage greater trust in the researchers.…”

“…In other words, it is valuable to highlight the person comprising the police officer (Fassin, 2015). This is perhaps a theoretical and methodological oddity for critical policing scholarship, but it is nevertheless an endeavour that speaks to the appreciative inquiry operationalized in criminological studies (Liebling et al, 2001), including those on policing (Jardine, 2020; Skinns et al, 2021). Adopting an appreciative approach would serve research on informants well because of its ability to render visible aspects of contemporary police handler culture and emotional labour (and discomfort), which could otherwise remain hidden.…”