Collaboration in conducting research: reflections on a mixed methods online data collection study with sentencers pertaining to their knowledge and experiences of sentencing those with gambling problems committed crimes

This paper aims to discuss our online mixed methods participatory and collaborative approach for researching sentencers understanding and experiences of sentencing where there is a relationship between a person’s problem gambling and their criminal involvement. Our research widened toconsider the experiences and perspectives of relevant criminal justice and gambling treatment stakeholders. We utilised a collaborative and participatory research approach within our investigations (Page, 2021), that based on Brown’s (2021) participation continuum was not fully egalitarian. For example, the academic principal investigator (PI) had responsibility to produce ethical approval documentation, lead research collection events, conduct in-depth themed analysis on qualitative data sets, present to stakeholders and to produce the final report and executive summary. A designated researcher also undertook the quantitative data analysis with oversight from the PI. However, liaison with partners, including those with lived experience of being a magistrate, occurred throughout the research project lifespan and activity and all made valuable contributions. Due to the COVID pandemic and UK government restrictions, our research data collection with participants needed to be online, as were collaborative meetings with partners involved in the project, namely Staffordshire University, the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Magistrates Association (MA). This paper reflects on our online mixed methods participatory and collaborative approach in terms of benefits and limitations