Describe what gatekeepers and informants are and explain how they differ

What will be an ideal response?


Students should identify and explain:
(a) Gatekeeper - anyone the field research encounters who has formal or informal authority to control access to the site.
(i) A gatekeeper can be a thug on the corner, the administrator of a hospital, or the owner of a business.
(ii) Most formal organizations have authorities from whom permission to enter must be obtained.
(iii) Researchers should expect to negotiate with gatekeepers and bargain for access.
(iv) Researchers need to set nonnegotiable limits in order to protect research integrity. Gatekeepers may forget initial demands as trust develops.
(b) Informant - a key actor in field research with whom an ethnographer develops a relationship and who tells about, or informs on, the field.

Criminal Justice

You might also like to view...

Reanalysis of data that was originally gathered for other purposes or by other researchers refers to ________

a. content analysis b. secondary analysis c. small space analysis d. physical trace analysis

Criminal Justice

Restitution is a court-ordered requirement for a convicted offender to compensate a victim for the financial losses resulting from his crime

a. True b. False

Criminal Justice

An intake screening is to be completed _____________________ on all inmates admitted for purposes of identifying any medical, mental health or other special needs.

a) immediately b) during booking c) prior to booking d) prior to classification

Criminal Justice

One of the benefits of this type of partnership includes an increased ability of police departments to investigate crimes by probationers/parolees

A) information-sharing partnerships B) enhanced-supervision partnerships C) interagency problem-solving partnerships D) fugitive-apprehension units

Criminal Justice