Exploratory Research Summary

The primary topics found in Heber (2012)’s article involves victims and offenders, specifically, the study’s research question was to examine how the roles of being an offender and/or a crime victim was constructed and how the presence or exposure to violence alongside societal labelling in combination may also result in this construction (p.172). While other literature of research exists, in particular in the field of victimology, by conducting this qualitative project, Heber (2012) wished to analyze the roles of offender/crime victim construction in order to gain insight on whether it contributed to “perceptions of perpetratorship and victimhood”, as the existing literature often showed a disinterest in the victim-offender overlap (p.172).

Exploratory research refers to the approach in which a researcher “seeks to investigate an area that has been underresearched” (Hesse-Biber, 2017, p.13). The use of exploratory research allows researchers to examine the social world for preliminary insights through rich thick descriptions of inquiries and the ability to hear opinions from the participants. Heber (2012) uses an exploratory research approach due to the lack of specific literature that they are is interested in exploring, (roles of offenders and crime victims and those who have had experience of both exposure to violence and exposed violence onto others and how violence and the presence of labelling may also contribute to this construction (p. 176). The role of using exploratory research allows the researcher to examine the social phenomenon and how it

176). In the context of the study, which involved the analysis of violent offenders that have had experience of both exposure to violence and has exposed violence onto others, Heber (2012) sought-after candidates who have at some point either been convicted of assault or manslaughter (p.176). Since interview subjects were chosen with the assistance of case officers working at three different probation offices, the sampling method that Heber (2012) deployed would be a convenience sampling technique (p. 177). It is considered a convenience sampling technique because of its method of retrieving participants, namely, due to ease of access (off the recommendation of the probation case officers), with an exception to the last participant, which Heber (2012) described as a “spontaneous recommendation” by another participant (p.177). Due to how Heber (2012) came about obtaining this final participant, this spontaneous addition would fall under the category of a snowball/chain sampling technique, as the participant was referred in by somebody else that was already involved in the research. One strength of using a convenience sampling technique is that the researcher is able to take advantage of the ease of access to participants, they do not have to put in much effort to actively seek participants. However, a weakness to using convenience sampling is that the degree of generalizability