Research methodology - Essay Example

Lecturer presentation Domestic violence is a major social problem that occurs when one person inflicts psychological or physical harm to a present or a former intimate partner. Domestic violence incorporates violent acts in a family or in intimate relationships (Johnson, 2008). Leone, Johnson, & Cohan, (2007) argue that in United States, domestic violence is the leading cause of body injuries and equally important, it has negative impacts to all family members especially to the developing children.

Domestic violence has generated to two major debates, the first dealing with the relationship between gender and domestic violence. According to Johnson (2008), some scholars argue that domestic violence is mainly perpetrated by men, while others argue that women are equally violent as their male counterparts in intimate relationships. The second debate involves establishing the number of women that are abused by their partners annually. According to Leone et al. (2007), between two to six million women are abused by their partners globally per year.

However, Johnson (2008) argues that these estimates are generalized, ignoring the types of violence perpetrated in an intimate partner relationship.This is a research methodology of establishing the types of intimate partner violence and the number of women that are afflicted by the violence in New York City in United States. According to Johnson, (2008), domestic violence does not occur as a unitary incident. Johnson, (2008) classifies intimate partner violence into four types. These include intimate terrorism, situational couple violence, mutual violence and violent resistance.

This classification is based on the part that power and control play in an intimate relationship. To collect information on the types of intimate partner violence, this study will concentrate on establishing the number of women that are abused annually in the United States. Using Johnson (2008) classification of intimate partner violence, the number of abused case will be established. This study will cover New York City whereby the data of abused persons in relationships will be obtained from health records in hospitals and other facilities such as police departments, counseling institutions where cases of domestic violence are reported.

This information will be obtained from the database of these institutions where applicable. In addition, collecting the data directly from responsible authorities in these institutions and victims of domestic violence will be undertaken in order to include statistics of intimate partner violence cases that go unreported in the city. The information collected will be analyzed and grouped into the four classes of intimate partner violence. Information collected from databases of these institutions will be matched with other secondary data that has been collected in order to establish their accuracy and authenticity.

According to Johnson (2008) intimate terrorism is characterized by incidents where the perpetrator in an intimate relationship uses violence to exercise control while the other partner does not use violence. Violent resistance on the other hand is characterized by a partner who is both violent and controlling. Violence occurs when the other partner resists attempts to be controlled by the abuser. In mutual violence, Johnson (2008) argues that both members in an intimate relationship apply violence in an effort to gain control over the other.

Finally, situational couple violence occurs in a situation where one or both partners are violent. However, none of them use violence as away of exerting control of one another (Johnson, 2008). From this classification, the data will be analyzed accordingly unlike in other studies where the numbers of abused partners are lumped together. This research is valuable to both criminal justice systems and academic fraternity. To criminal justice, the research will provide valuable insights on crimes that are committed in contexts of marriages and intimate relationships.

These include murders, body injuries, and suicides among other crimes related to domestic violence. From this research, criminal system can be in a position to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of intimate partner violence. In addition, the information can enhance in determination of cases such as homicides, divorce and separation. To academic fraternity, the research offers valuable leads for further research on psychology of perpetrators and victims of intimate partner violence. This will establish factors that promote domestic violence and provide possible solutions to the society ReferencesJohnson, M.P. (2008).

A typology of domestic violence: Intimate terrorism, violent resistance and situational couple violence. Boston: Northwestern University Press.Leone, J., Johnson, M., Cohan, C. (2007). Victim Help Seeking: Differences between Intimate Terrorism and Situational Couple Violence. Family Relations, 56(5): 428-439.