Running Head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 1

Domestic Violence

Student’s Name

Institution

Date
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 2

Identify the challenges in measuring the concept of domestic violence

In measuring the concept of domestic violence, two main challenges have been identified

(Myhill, 2017) overreporting and differentiating. Overreporting was reported to be one of the

main challenges that surveys encountered in their process of collecting data. Most respondents

could not differentiate casual slaps maybe when their partners were playing from violent slaps.

The frequency and severity of reported domestic violence were the main challenges. In survey

measurement, the inability to measure the frequency and severity has been a major problem. In

other instances, the respondents reported domestic violence as either accidents or jokes that they

were playing with their partners. In such instances measuring domestic violence becomes a

major challenge. According to Ackerman (2016), male respondents overreported more than

women.

Differentiating, the various forms of abuse were not able to be differentiated. According

to most feminist advocates abuse especially of women from men are acts of intimate violence

that mainly constituted battering as an attempt of exerting power and control on women. Most

studies and the feminist advocates did not differentiate the various forms of domestic violence

but some writers have differentiated it. Physical abuse and non-physical abuse such as emotional

and psychological abuse should be differentiated accordingly for the respondents to answer the

survey questions accordingly. Myhill (2015) indicated that men were less likely to report

frightening threats such as emotional abuse than women. So when the abuse is not differentiated

the survey will collect biased information on domestic violence in relationships.

Identify how you would measure domestic violence if you are undertaking research on this

important concept
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 3

When undertaking a research on domestic violence, I would use the major instruments

and tools developed to measure domestic violence. One of the tools is the conflict tactic scales

(CTS). In this scale respondents are asked various questions and how many times they

experienced these acts within a given timeframe. CTS is structured on a 3 by 8 factorial design to

examine the conflict tactic. It measures reasoning or argument, aggression both verbal and

symbolic, or physical aggression across the various family relationships such as between

partners, a parent and their child, or between siblings. CTS has been revised and formed the new

CTS2 that has included three scales namely physical assault, psychological aggression, injury,

negotiation, and sexual coercion (Signorelli et al., 2014). In my research, I would rely mainly on

CTS as it will provide all the necessary information needed to measure domestic violence.

Additionally, it has differentiated the various types of violence thus the respondents will have an

easier time answering the survey question.

The Domestic Violence Blame Scale (DVBS) would also be used to measure domestic

violence. The DVBS normally attempts to measure the different aspects of blame attribution in

regard to domestic violence. DVBS has four blame scores which indicate the level of victim,

perpetrator, societal, or situational blame attribution (Irwan & Margaretha, 2020). In a clinical

setting, DVBS is used to measure self-blame. Thus all forms of domestic violence will be

identified in the scale.

Combining the two tools, CTS and DVBS will ensure a proper measure of domestic

violence. The challenges of every scale will be overlooked by the use of the other scale. The

combining of these two will give the best results on measuring domestic violence either in

families or in relationships.
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References

‌Ackerman, J. (2016) Over-reporting intimate partner violence in Australian survey research. British

Journal of Criminology, vol 56, pp. 646-667

‌Irwan, G. C., & Margaretha, M. (2020). Attribution Error to the Victim in Domestic Violence: A

Contemplation of Domestic Violence Observer . Jurnal Psikologi, 19(1), 72–79.

https://doi.org/10.14710/jp.19.1.72-79

Myhill, A. (2015) Measuring coercive control: What can we learn from national population surveys?,

Violence Against Women, vol 21, pp. 355-375

Myhill, A. (2017). Measuring domestic violence: context is everything. Journal of Gender-Based

Violence, 1(1), 33–44. https://doi.org/10.1332/239868017x14896674831496

Signorelli, M. S., Arcidiacono, E., Musumeci, G., Di Nuovo, S., & Aguglia, E. (2014). Detecting

Domestic Violence: Italian Validation of Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2). Journal of

Family Violence, 29(4), 361–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-014-9594-5