Audio Criminology: Broadening the criminological imagination through the use of audio methods

Abstract

Criminology has traditionally drawn upon a narrow range of research methods, with more varied methods employed at the margins of the discipline. Thus, the potential for criminological discovery has been bound by a limited array of research tools and diversifying the criminological toolkit could unearth new revelations or breakthroughs in the discipline. This chapter advocates for criminologists to expand their criminological imagination and consider the benefits that audio research methods can provide to the discipline. An examination of the range of audio methods such as sound walks, audio-computer assisted interviews, audio diaries, and soundscapes is provided, before considering the utility of audio vignettes in research on attitudes towards sex work.