- One of the main problems in studying domestic violence is the difficulty of obtaining valid information on the subject.
- Official police statistics rely on reports they receive from individuals and the recording of these incidents by the police
- With other methods, such as interviews or self-completed questionnaires, people may refuse to answer, misunderstand the question, lie, exaggerate or forget. The researcher may also misunderstand or misclassify the answers given.
- It is possible that male researchers may receive different answers from female researchers.
- There are also difficulties in defining domestic violence in the first place.
Working in small groups, find answers to the following questions:
- What problems might there be in defining domestic violence? How would you define it? How might different definitions affect the results of research?
- Suggest reasons why domestic violence may be under-reported to the police
- Suggest reasons why the police may not record fully all complaints of domestic violence
- Suggest some examples of the ways in which interviews might produce invalid results
- . Why might a victim of domestic violence respond differently to questions asked by male and female researchers?
- Explain what is meant by ‘validity’. How may all these difficulties reduce the validity of a study of domestic violence?