ABSTRACT
The family violence field includes research designed to describe, predict, or explain the intentional use of force to inflict pain on a family member, whether the family member is a child, sibling, spouse, parent, or some other intimate living within the household. Studies on abused or neglected children were the first to reach audiences through professional journal publications, followed by studies on child sexual abuse, marital rape, and elder neglect and abuse. No study conducted within any particular subfield of family violence can avoid major ethical concerns and questions. Generally speaking, two types of ethical concerns require the researcher's attention: minimizing the risk of potential harm resulting from, or exacerbated by, the research experience, and maximizing the likelihood that consent to research at least approximates informed consent. The chapter identifies a substantial body of what are conventionally called "quantitative" and "qualitative" research designs being applied to the study of all types of violence within families.
