Domestic Violence: Why Do Women Stay in Abusive Marriages - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal on Domestic Violence: Why Do Women Stay in Abusive Marriages Table of Contents 0 Background of the study 2 1 Introduction 2 2Justification for conduction the study 4 1.3 Research objective 4 1.4 Research questions 5 2.0 Literature review 5 3.0 Research design 6 4.0 Data collection 8 5.0 Data analysis 9 6.0 Possible limitations 10 7.0 Ethical consideration 10 Royse, D. M. (2010). Research Methods in Social Work.(6th edition). Stamford, Connecticut: 12 Cengage Learning Publications. 12 1.0 Background of the study 1.1 Introduction In the writings by Dutton (2006), and Wilcox (2006) they have referred to domestic violence using various terms that include intimate partner violence (IPV), family violence, spousal violence and domestic abuse as a recurring abusive aggression by either or both of partners who are in a intimate relationship like friendship, family ties, cohabitation, dating or in a marriage. Hampton et al (2006) in their studies lamented that victims of domestic violence are people of all walks of a life and it can be anyone regardless of socioeconomic class, whether rural or urban, male or female, young or old; divorced, single or married. Domestic violence is also not bound by geographical location, ethnic background, race or religion and from the words of Follingstad and Rutledge (1990) it is the single most “unreported epidemic or violence” that can occur to anyone at anyplace regardless of other factors. With reference to the studies conducted by Jackson (2007) he noted that domestic violence exist in different forms that may include; financial deprivation of another partner, covert or passive abuse like neglect, stalking, intimidation, domineering or controlling, emotional and sexual abuse, threatening. Others include physical aggression in the form of slapping, kicking, hitting the other partner, throwing objects to the other partner, restraining, or shoving. The statistics of domestic violence can be termed as “alarming” from a global scope. However, it is important to note that the documentation, definition, perception, and awareness differ from one country to another and in terms of time i.e. one era to the other. For example, in some African cultures, domestic violence especially in the form of wife battery is highly condoned and therefore, the definition and perception of domestic violence in such cultures different extent in comparison to the British culture. In the context of the United Kingdom, research study by that Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse indicate that only a third of domestic violence cases are usually reported. The worst record were from 2006 to 2007 whereby the British crime survey noted that 0.9 per cent of the population reported to be victims of domestic abuse, of which 0.6 per cent or 312, 000 were women and 0.3 per cent or 93, 000 were men. The survey further noted that only 44.3 per cent of these cases during that period were reported to the relevant authorities. The UK’s police record show that only 35 per cent of the actual domestic violence against women is reported and women remain the greatest victims of domestic violence. Johnson (2000) and Hampton et al. (2006) in their studies on domestic violence noted that, Black women in United Kingdom topped the list of victims of domestic violence. The Black women seem to suffer more unlike women from other races, which allude to the fact that majority of Black men who make the greatest percentage of Black women partners or husbands are abusive. According to McCue and Margi (2008), domestic violence against women has the potential of causing bodily harm and in extreme cases; it might result to the death of the woman. Wallace (2004) on his part noted that various forms of domestic violence might cause health complications to the victim such as depression, high stress levels, and in extreme cases, the victim might develop mental health problems. Despite the negative effects of domestic violence on the victims with the possibility of death occurring, there is still a worrying trend whereby the victims, most of whom are women, continue to stay in such abusive relationships. In this regard, this research proposal has been specifically designed to propose a study that seeks to establish why women stay in abusive relationships. 1.2 Justification for conduction the study Numerous bodies of research that are presently available have not been able to satisfactorily answer the pertinent question as to why women stay in abusive relationships since the reasons normally given in relation to this question normally have gaps that necessitate the need for an exploratory research such as this. For example, most research studies such as the ones conducted by Nauert (2010) and Dutton (2006) have pointed to the fact that women stay in abusive relationship because of financial dependency on the abusive partner. However, the case example of Chris Brown and Rihanna who are mega superstars tarnishes the validity of such a finding. This is because it was publicly documented about how Rihanna was physical abused by Chris Brown on several occasions and despite separating from Chris Brown, she reunited with him earlier this earlier before split again (Bryant, 2013). This case example refutes that notion that women stay in abusive relationship because of financial independency since Rihanna on her own right is a financially stable woman with a net worth exceeding millions of pounds. The research gaps that exist in the present bodies of studies that are available create a reason to develop an exploratory research study that seeks to answer the question why women stay in abusive relationships. 1.3 Research objective To establish valid reasons as to why women stay in abusive relationships despite the negative consequences that are associated with abusive relationships. 1.4 Research questions a) Is tolerance to violence and other forms of abuse the reason why women stay in abusive relationship? b) Does strong personal attachment to an abusive partner make women stay in abusive relationships? c) Do societal pressures and influences force women to stay in abusive relationships? d) Does low self-esteem and confidence contribute to women staying in abusive relationships? 2.0 Literature review From the studies conducted by Wallace (2004), it is stated that people stay in abusive relationships because of the fear that they might have over leaving the abusive partner, who could have threatened them with dire consequences should they leave the relationship. Secondly, depending on the environment where the victims grew up, domestic violence could be considered as normal since they could have experienced their mothers or sisters persevering domestic violence in their respective relationships. Therefore, based on their experience they will equally continue to stay in abusive relationships. According to Hamel and Nicholls (2007), another key reason why women would tend to stay in abusive relationship is because of low self-esteem whereby their abusive partners constantly rebukes them thereby stealing away their confidence and feeling of self-worth, which makes them to lack the strength of walking out the relationship. In the writings by Dutton (2006), he tried to explain why women continue to stay in abusive relationship in a manner that could explain why in the case example of Rihanna versus Chris Brown, why Rihanna opted to persevere the abuse and even re-united with Chris Brown despite the fact that he had physically abused her on several occasions. In this study, Dutton (2006) explained that women like Rihanna could stay in abusive relationships because of social peer pressure, which dictates that it is cool to be associated with the famous person who is loved and adored by many. Therefore, ending a relationship with such a person is unthinkable more so considering that the relationship between the two stars created a big hype. In the writings by Radford and Hester (2006), they stated that another common reason as to why women stay in abusive relationships is because of the of wish or desire to raise up the children jointly or whilst staying together with the abusive partner. 3.0 Research design From the onset of setting the research objective, the design of the proposed study was to subscribe to the exploratory research method. Kothari (2004) in his writings described the exploratory research method as best suited for research studies where there are no or very little previous studies that can be used for reference purposes and where the aim of the study is to explore for patterns, hypotheses, or ideas that are related to a particular subject. The alternative research method that is suggested by Bryman (2012), is the investigative research method, which is not appropriate for the research study since it is geared towards testing or validating hypotheses that have been stipulated. Moreover, this present study seeks to uncover unique facts that have not been presented in other studies and then explain correctly, why women continue to stay in abusive relationships. As part of the exploratory research method, the other methods that would be applied include the primary research method as well as the secondary research method. Khan (2011) defined secondary research method as the culmination of data that is already available and it is advantageous since it will not consume much time but there is possibility that the information collected through this method may be irrelevant or outdated. While implementing this method, the researcher will have to read through various pieces of scholarly writings that offer answers to the research questions that have been listed above or have a similar objective as the one that has been stated above. In regards to primary research, Royse (2010) described it as culmination of data that actually is non-existing. The collection of such data can be through various forms that can widely be grouped into two categories that include quantitative and qualitative research method. The main advantage of conducting primary research is it is accurate in most cases but the disadvantages lies on the fact that it may consume a lot of time since it involves dealing with participants who will only become of great help when they are willing. Under primary research method, the researcher will initiate a data collection process whereby he or she will seek to gather firsthand information from selected participants about their opinion on the listed research questions. The responses obtained from participants will be considered an explored opinion that could have been undocumented and more so it reflects the reality on the ground of which in this case is the reason why women stay in abusive relationships (Bryman, 2012). With reference to the studies conducted by Bryman (2012), it can be stated that the combination of both the primary research method and the secondary research method in this present study is beneficial since data that is collected through secondary research is validated by data that is collected through primary research. A perfect match between the two sets of data infers that the data obtained is consistent and of high validity. 4.0 Data collection Because of the fact that the exploratory research method will be applied in the proposed study it means that the applicable data collection method in the primary research process would be the qualitative method and therefore data that will be collected will be qualitative and even the analysis process will be done through qualitative means. In the studies conducted by Noor (2008), he stated that qualitative research method is best applied when the data that is being sort is unknown, or when there is no perfect definition of the research problem and when there is need to uncover issues from an in-depth level. Among the common applicable qualitative methods for data collection, include use of focus groups, in-depth interviews, uninterrupted observations, audio recordings, literature reviews, and open-ended survey responses. Because of the sensitivity of the issue i.e. domestic violence, it will be challenging to access the direct participants that include abusive partners and even the victims of the abuse and then convenience them to contribute to the research study, therefore, this research study will not be able to apply methods such as focus groups, uninterrupted observations, and audio recordings. The methods that will be applied include in-depth interviews, which will be guided by pre-designed interview questions and open-ended survey responses that will contain questions that allow respondents to give answers without following a particular direction. In regards to the sampling method that will be used to acquire participants, it is noted that the researcher will use the purposive and snowball sampling to get a good sample of the population. According to Royse (2010), respondents will be purposively selected so that respondents who are known to have key information will be selected. Under the snowballing method, Kothari (2004) noted that the researcher would have to collect data on the few members of the target population that he or she can locate, and then the researcher will ask those individuals to provide information that is needed to locate other members of that population whom they happen to know. On a simplistic perspective, the perfect participants that will be targeted for this research include social workers who have handled cases of domestic violence, marriage counselors who will not disclose any confidential information, and a few selected married couples. The anticipate project timeline for this research study is as follows; Activity November December January February March April May Proposal writing Preparation of instruments Data collection Data analysis and interpretation Testing frame work Report writing Submission of final report 5.0 Data analysis Considering the data that will be collected will be qualitative in nature, it means the perfect method of analysis will be quasi-statistics of which Noor (2008) described it as counting number of mentioning in the collected data. Based on the computed information and the grouping of mentioning a logical analysis will be applied, which will involve presenting that data on charts i.e. pie or bar charts. The generation of charts using the simply Microsoft Excel after which a descriptive analysis of the data will be done. 6.0 Possible limitations a) The greatest limitation would arise from shallow responses that would be written on the open-ended questions or stated during the in-depth interviews b) Another limitation would be the long procedures involved in accessing the targeted participants and even getting to the consent to participate in the research process. 7.0 Ethical consideration Because of the sensitivity of the research topic and in particular the research questions, it would be best for the researcher to maintain high level of confidentiality concerning the identity of the research participants. Moreover, the researcher has to ensure the information disclosed by the social worker and marriage do not identify with a particular individual since this can create an ethical breach. References Bryant, B. 2013. Rihanna and Chris Brown, The Anatomy of an Abusive Relationship. Retrieved from: http://guardianlv.com/2013/02/rihanna-chris-brown-abusive-relationship. Accessed on [24.11.2013] Bryman, A.2012. Social Research Methods. (4th edition). Oxford, UK: Oxford university press. Dutton, G. (2006). Rethinking Domestic Violence; Vancouver, BC, Canada: UBC Press, pp 189-203 Follingstad, D. and Rutledge, L. (1990). "The Role of Emotional Abuse in Physically Abusive Relationships." Journal of Family Violence Vol. 23 (5). pp 107–120 Hamel, J. and Nicholls, L., 2007. Family Interventions in Domestic Violence: A Handbook of Gender-Inclusive Theory and Treatment. New York, NY: Springer Pub, pp 498-511 Hampton, L. Gullotta, P. and Ramos, M. (2006), Interpersonal Violence in the African American Community: Evidence-Based Prevention and Treatment Practices. New York, NY: Springer Jackson, A. (2007), Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence, New York, NY: Rutledge Khan, M. (2011). Research Methodology.New Delhi, India:APH Publishing Kothari, C. (2004). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. New Delhi, India: New Age International McCue, B. and Margi, L. (2008), Domestic Violence: A Reference Handbook (2nd Ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Nauert, R. 2010. Why Women Stay in Abusive Relationships. Retrieved from: http://www.livescience.com/8202-women-stay-abusive-relationships.html. Accessed on [24.11.2013] Noor, K. (2008). A strategic Research Methodology. Science Publications,’ American Journal of Applied Sciences, Vol. 5, Issue 11, pp. 1602-1604 Radford, L. and Hester, M. 2006. Mothering through Domestic Violence. London, UK; Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Royse, D. M. (2010). Research Methods in Social Work.(6th edition). Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning Publications. Wallace, H. 2004. Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives. Boston, US: Allyn & Bacon Wilcox, P. (2006). Surviving Domestic Violence: Gender, Poverty and Agency, Hound mills, England; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 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