Survey and Interview Research

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Grand Canyon University *

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445

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Sociology

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Feb 20, 2024

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SURVEY AND INTERVIEW RESEARCH Survey and Interview Research Shelby Sanchez JUS – 445 Professor Jones 1
SURVEY AND INTERVIEW RESEARCH Survey and Interview Research Mark Hamm is a sociologist who studies criminology and has written and been a co- author in many books regarding crime and violence. He is known for tracing the skinhead nation and examining the emergence of skinheads in America in the late 1980s. The violent crimes committed by the skinheads can be characterized as motivated by racial hatred and white supremacist ideology. The skinheads were one of the most infamous of all youth subcultures that sported tough workman-like looks wearing Levi jeans, industrial boots, and button up shirts (Pollard, 2016) . A huge distinction between the skinheads and the rest of the culture were their shaved heads. They shaved their heads at a time where long hair in style and represented pop liberation (Bowen, 2008) . This essay goes into detail regarding the data collection methods, surveys and interviews, used by Hamm in order to learn more about the American skinheads. Data Collection Mark Hamm, a sociological researcher began collecting data on the American skinheads in 1989. His study approach was through visiting various United States cities where he tracked down skinheads while in their natural habitat and observed their behavior (Hagan, 2012) . Their natural habitats included everything from: street corners, motorcycle shops, record stores, rock concerts, and many more places (Pollard, 2016) . He was able to easily identify the skinheads because they had shaved heads and wore Nazi regalia and white power. Some American skinheads even went to the extreme of getting swastika symbols tattooed on their heads (Hagan, 2012) . After observing the skinheads for some time, Hamm went even further to use the same methods of a study approach, going to skinhead’s natural habitats, however this time he decided 2
SURVEY AND INTERVIEW RESEARCH to ask for interviews from young skinheads. He took to the streets of five different locations: Montreal, Vancouver, London, Amsterdam, and Berlin to approach the youth to see if they would allow him to interview them (Hagan, 2012) . In order to get the skinheads to talk, Hamm offered them ten dollars if they would agree to and complete the interview. Hamm received a skinhead member list and sent letters to roughly twenty-six leaders offering them twenty-five dollars for a phone interview. Out of the twenty-six letters that were cent nine interviews happened over the phone, three additional unrequested skinheads called for an interview, after posting on White Aryan Resistance (WAR) website he got two more skinheads to be interviewed, eight additional leaders answered questions though a mailed questionnaire, and lastly fourteen individuals were willing to be interviewed across four different state prisons (Hagan, 2012) . In total, he was able to interview thirty-six skinheads by these means of data collection. Internet Data Collection Hamm went ahead and used the internet to log onto the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) board, which is a website created by white supremacist named Tom Metzger, in charge of trying to build up a network of racist skinheads in the late 1980s (Bowen, 2008) . Hamm went to this website and identified himself as a sociologist that simply wanted to interview skinheads in exchange for money, ten dollars per person. Turns out only two people came forward that were willing to speak to Hamm about being a skinhead. This effort might yield better results today considering a majority of people communicate through and use the internet on a day to day basis. Different groups, such as the skinheads, can create a larger presence by going online because they are able to gather more followers from all 3
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SURVEY AND INTERVIEW RESEARCH over the country and even the world. Today, if a sociologist reaches out to a group they can find two things: one that there will be a larger online presence and two there will be more people willing to exchange information. This method would also help the researchers save funds on the research project because there are free or cheaper ways to collect data. Ethical Data Collection Techniques Hamm’s data collection techniques: phone interviews, surveys, observations, internet, prison field experience are all different ways that allowed Hamm to conduct thirty-six interviews of real skinheads. All of the data collected helped aid the research of the American skinhead group and provided information about criminology and the control of hate crime. The ways Hamm collected data proved to be ethical and unbiased as Hamm always informed the skinhead volunteers that he was a sociologist wanting to know more about their culture, he informed everyone their participation is completely voluntary, he offered an incentive, and he kept their information confidential. All of these steps taken by Hamm prove to follow informed consent of the study and follow the regulations of research protocol. 4
SURVEY AND INTERVIEW RESEARCH References Bowen, D. (2008). Patterns of Skinhead Violence. University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository . Hagan, F. (2012). Essentials of Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology (3rd Edition ed.). Pollard, J. (2016). Skinhead Culture: The Ideologies, Mythologies, Religions and Conspiracy Theories of Racist Skinheads. Patterns of Prejudice, 50 (4/5), 398-419. 5