Theoretical and Methodological Issues and Perspectives

Abstract

The first half of this chapter, rather than reviewing all the relevant theories, focuses on theoretical perspectives of widely used and cited contemporary perspectives. Theoretically, it is important to understand family and intra-family processes within the context of value, norms and beliefs which sets the condition for violence. Scholars have used different theoretical frameworks and perspectives to understand the asymmetrical relationship in family, especially between husband and wife. However, to develop contemporary perspectives, an understanding of the theoretical changes around the concept of gender is required not only with a historical lens but also in terms of cultural context. The second half of this chapter deals with methodological paradigms and approaches related to domestic violence. The chapter offers an overview of several critical methodological issues in researching domestic violence in India. It extends the methodological orientation with how the author operationalized the phenomenon and translated the concept within a multi-cultural location, which can be measured by overcoming cross-cultural differences in conceptualization of problem through scientific data collection methods. In addition, the author discusses a number of ethical issues to protect safety by ensuring informed consent, maintenance of confidentiality of research participants and training of the cross-cultural research team to maximize cultural competency and minimize local bias. The author reviews various tools used by practitioners and researcher to screen frequency, measure the severity and risk for future on domestic violence.