ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews methodological issues in the study of family violence. A number of scholars are wary of applying survey research to the study of abuse and violence because they assume that subjects will not provide either reliable or valid answers. The non-experimental, cross-sectional design has been the most frequently employed research design in the study of family violence. Most of the experimental research on domestic violence has focused on the relationship between child abuse and aggressive behavior of the children. Students of family violence need to attend to the major measurement issues in the study of violence and aggression. Attempts to clarify the concept of violence have demonstrated the difficulty of distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate acts. The Minneapolis police experiment is an impressive example of a field experiment. Methodological problems notwithstanding, it remains an example of a creative and ingenious approach to the ethical and practical constraints of applying experimental methods to the study of domestic violence.
