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Methodological Choices and Challenges

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Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child

Part of the book series: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies ((PSLS))

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Abstract

In this chapter, I explain the methodological approaches which underpinned the research and discuss the research design and the challenges it raised. I used multiple data strands and the data collection from three groups: children whose mother was in prison, adults who were looking after children whilst their mother was in prison, and Crown Court judges was influenced by Article 12 of the UNCRC 1989. I explore the ethics of engaging directly with children in research and the issues around access and power dynamics as well as the challenges of reflexivity and researcher bias . The chapter concludes with biographies of the research participants.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although questionnaires were administered to children, it became clear after data collection that they provided insufficient data to include in the analysis. See Appendix A for more information.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Dr Shona Minson

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  1. Dr Shona Minson
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Correspondence to Shona Minson .

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Minson, S. (2020). Methodological Choices and Challenges. In: Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32738-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32738-5_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32737-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32738-5

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