NCJ Number
147495
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (Fall 1993) Pages: 199-215
Date Published
1993
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This analysis of large-survey, cross-national studies on violence focuses on their strengths and weaknesses, the kinds of data currently available for doing this kind of research, and current descriptive and analytical knowledge based on these surveys.
Abstract
The discussion also focuses on new directions that this kind of research might productively take and the research strategies, methodologies, resources, and organizational skills and capabilities that will be needed to pursue these new directions. The analysis notes that the three sources of violence statistics are official statistics, victimization surveys, and self-report surveys. These surveys reveal that immense and enduring differences exist among societies in their levels and types of violence, although researchers have only begun to determine the bases for these differences. The discussion concludes that basic, innovative changes are required in the way that these studies are managed if knowledge is to be advanced. Therefore, new sources of cross-cultural survey data are needed, based on sub-national sampling units. In addition, the research should use multilevel strategies that would balance analyses within and between societies and would examine intervening mechanisms that link broad social factors with violence. Notes and 74 references