ABSTRACT
Conducting research with victimized populations has a major psychological impact on one’s life. Detachment and distance certainly protect researchers from experiencing any unsettling changes in their own assumptive worlds and theories of reality. The remarkable ability of victims to cope well with serious misfortune is immediately apparent to the researcher. One might wonder why, in the face of anxiety, distress, and confusion, researchers would choose to continue to work with victims. The greatest impact of working with victims is felt at the level of one’s basic assumptions about the operation of the world. Changes in the victim’s assumptive world are no doubt far-reaching and extensive; victimization would certainly fall within the boundaries of Parkes’ “psychosocial transition.” The attempt to locate fault in the victim, or at least to explain the event in a way that could make the researcher immune, may be reminiscent of a reaction common to people who learn of unfortunate and potentially threatening news.
