NCJ Number
210313
Date Published
2005
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the increasing use of quantitative methodologies in feminist research on gender violence.
Abstract
As British Government policy shifted to focus on empirically evaluated programming and “what works” in terms of violence interventions, feminist research strategies took on an increasingly quantitative character, making a distinct break from the qualitative methodologies that helped shape the field. The chapter begins with a review of early qualitative research on domestic violence to illustrate how this type of research strategy helped bring public awareness to the problem of violence against women. The focus next shifts to the use of descriptive statistics, as well as inferential and generalizable statistical analyses; these types of methodologies allow for the empirical analysis of data that can then be generalized to the wider population. The authors critique the use of crime surveys for domestic and other forms of violence against women before turning to their analysis of the development and application of evaluative research. The authors look specifically at evaluations of the policing of domestic violence to illustrate how and why feminist researchers shifted their approach to the study of domestic violence to a primarily quantitative approach. The debates concerning objectivity that surround evaluative research are considered as the authors illustrate how a qualitative approach to evaluative research can complement a quantitative approach, providing richer and more accurate data. Finally, the authors argue that the study of domestic violence must not stop with the victims but must also focus on the perpetrators of abuse and the societal structure that sustains them. Notes, bibliography