This review essay provides a brief intro­duction to the use of qualitative methods in crimi­nological research, before moving on to describe the content of the two books. The books are quite different in a number of ways. NOAKS and WIN­CUP take the "how to do it" approach, making the book very useful for students and researchers new to qualitative methods. In contrast, POGREBIN's edited collection provides a large number of "how it has been done" examples with an equal focus on the findings as on the methodological approach. Although both books devote space to ethical di­lemmas, the nature of the dilemmas and how they are resolved varies. This is probably due to the age of some of the chapters within POGREBIN's book (all are reprints and date back to 1973) but may also reflect different ethical stances in the USA and UK. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0503130