ABSTRACT
My study was designed to explore the processes involved for women in finding out about the sexual abuse of their children, deciding what to do about the family relationships involved (both short and long term) and about involving others, and their experience of others’ responses, from both informal sources and professional agencies. The focus both on processes that developed over time and on the women's own interpretations of their experience indicated that depth interviewing was the most appropriate method. As Jones suggests:
In order to understand why persons act as they do we need to understand the meaning and significance they give to their actions. The depth interview is one way of doing so…. For to understand other persons’ constructions of reality we would do well to ask them (rather than assume we can know merely by observing their overt behaviour) and to ask them in such a way that they can tell us in their terms.
(Jones, 1985b, p. 46)