ANDY BENNETT is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Surrey. He has published articles on aspects of youth culture and popular music in a number of books and journals and is author of Popular Music and Youth Culture (2000) and Cultures of Popular Music (2001), and co-editor of Guitar Cultures (2001). Andy is Chair of the UK and Ireland branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Youth Study Group. - MARK CIESLIK is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Teesside. Mark is presently conducting a project into the relationship between youth transitions and basic skills. He is also co-convenor of the British Sociological Association Youth Study Group. He is the co-editor of Young People in Risk Society: The Restructuring of Youth Identities and Transitions in Late Modernity (2002). - STEVEN MILES is Head of Research at the Centre for Cultural Policy and Management at the University of Northumbria. He is author of Youth Lifestyles in a Changing World (2000), Social Theory in the Real World (2001) and Consumerism as a Way of Life (1998). He is also co-author with Malcolm Miles of a book on consuming cities shortly to be published by Palgrave. He retains a particular interest on the impact of consumption on young people's identities and their relationship to the city as a centre for consumption.

• Introduction: Contemporary Youth Research: Issues, Controversies and Dilemmas; M.Cieslik PART 1: YOUTH RESEARCH IN CONTEXT The Sociology of Youth, Problems, Priorities and Methods; K.Roberts Mods and Shockers: Youth Culture Research in Britain ; P.Cohen PART 2: PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE Framing Youth: Reviewing Locally Commissioned Research on Young People, Drug Use and Drug Education; M.Jones, J.Orme & F.Starkey Onions and Apples: Problems with Comparative European Youth Research; F.Cartmel Empowering Youth in Research and Social Processes Using Critically Reflexive Action Research: Learning From Practice; B.Percy-Smith & S.Weil PART 3: IN THE FIELD Ethnography in Practice: A Case Study Illustration; R.Edmond Researching Young Women's Bodies: Values, Dilemmas and Contradictions; L.Frost E-heads Versus Beer Monsters: Researching Young People's Substance Misuse in Dance Club Settings; K.Moore PART 4: ISSUES IN ETHNOGRAPHY Double Exposure: Exploring the Social and Political Relations of Ethnographic Youth Research; R.G.Hollands Researching Young People as Consumers: Can and Should We Ask Them Why?; S.Miles The Use of 'Insider' Knowledge in Ethnographic Research on Contemporary Youth Music Scenes; A.Bennett Bibliography Index