NCJ Number
226945
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 15 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 434-439
Date Published
April 2009
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article briefly discusses the challenges faced in the creation of a new science in violence against women research.
Abstract
The question asked is whether a science model will give the community of violence against women (VAW) researchers what they need to do what they do? If there is the need to both understand and intervene to end VAW, than one needs to ask whether a science model can help advance both goals. In addressing these questions, the debate began within community psychology about whether the field of VAW should evolve into community science. In the formation of a community science, leading scholars and practitioners in community psychology zeroed in on the potential tensions involved in creating a science of social problems. To achieve the dual goals of understanding and ending, a science of violence against women would have to define praxis as central to the science itself. Such approaches are not conventional. As such, the benefits that may come from adopting a science model, increased resources, visibility, and prestige, seem less probable in light of these tensions. A science model also constrains how research is to be conducted. Whether a science model is good for the field of VAW depends on what one feels needs to be done. Note and references