This article delineates the methods of the author’s PhD in Criminology, carried out at the University of Cambridge from 2019 to 2023. The main aim of the PhD was to explore the pathways between maternal exposure to violence and the behavioural development of two-to-three-year-old children in Tirana, Albania. To achieve this, the author spent 10 months in Tirana collecting data from a sample of 328 mothers and 59 nursery teachers in eight diverse socio-economic research sites. The purpose of this article is to reveal the details of the methodological approach, the meticulous planning, as well as the obstacles faced when implementing the PhD project. It provides a thorough description of the research design, sampling strategy, measurement tools, ethical considerations, data collection challenges, and fieldwork experiences.