NCJ Number
181737
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2000 Pages: 286-310
Date Published
March 2000
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study uses Q methodology to explore subjective variability in the use of the term "domestic violence."
Abstract
Formulated by Stephenson (1953) and further developed by Brown (1980), Q methodology is based on the assumption that there will be a bounded set of propositions or concourse from which discourses are produced in order to make sense of the world at a given moment and place in history. Q methodology allows participants to sort through a concourse of statements and rank them in relation to each other within a forced, quasi-normal distribution. In this study, Q methodology was used to examine how participants construct both their understanding of the social problem of domestic violence and the actions required to address the situation. To achieve a representation of positions on the debates and discourses concerning domestic violence, two distinct participant groups were targeted. More than half of the 40 participants had some direct experience in dealing with domestic violence. The remaining participants were university students. One Q sort pack composed of 63 statements relating to domestic violence was compiled. Each of the participants was asked to sort the sets of Q statements along the dimension from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." From the participants' completed Q sorts, five interpretable factors emerged that suggest domestic violence should be viewed as an arbitration of connected discourses that predicate social practices, rather than an act whose causes are psychologically clear. Thus, domestic violence emerges from the interactive dynamics between the perpetrator and victim, who are influenced and conditioned by a culture of violence they have learned through socialization, modeling, and imitation. Appended list of 63 statements and summary of factors, 10 notes, and 53 references