Social research services

Tender description

Scotland's Organised Crime Strategy, emphasises the importance of having an evidence based understanding of serious organised crime (SOC) and its impact on communities. This reflects the Scottish Governments outcomes in the national performance framework to have strong, supportive communities and to live lives safe from crime. Although there are accounts of organised crime based on administrative data from crime and criminal justice systems, there is a lack of research that considers the impact of organised crime from a community point of view. There is little information about how organised crime is perceived by communities, its range and extent, how it may be felt to impact on well-being, its integration into daily community life, and connections to other aspects of community well-being. There is therefore a need for more in-depth qualitative research into the problem from the perspective of those within communities who may have observed SOC and been affected by it. This will help to provide policy-makers within the Scottish Government Organised Crime Unit and Community Safety Unit, partner agencies within the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce and relevant stakeholders with a more accurate understanding of SOC, from the perspective of the people who experience it, and also inform them of how interventions might be used to decrease the negative impacts of SOC. Contractor's Responsibilities The contractor will design an innovative research methodology to provide a detailed account of local perspectives and experiences of SOC which addresses the ethical and practical difficulties that a study like this may involve. They will undertake the study with responsibility for the completion of all key research stages, provide interim reports and presentations for Scottish Government research and policy teams and final reports for publication. Scope of Work The study will ideally carry out research in 4 - 5 community study sites in different areas of Scotland using in-depth qualitative research methods. It aims to collect data from a wide range of perspectives including people and communities that may be vulnerable and hard to reach.