Introduction

Title

“What are the causes of family violence in London?”

Background of the research study

Domestic violence is a major social problem which has significant impact on the mental health of victim. Family violence has been occurring in different social levels across the globe regardless of age, sex, and race. The government and the policy makers of most of the countries across the world have considered family violence as a relatively minor issue. The general approach focused on addressing the problem through few social welfare programs. In the last decade, various international women’s organization, government, experts across the world put an effort to enhance public awareness regarding this issue. Several research studies have conducted in order to address the social problem and protect the family members especially women and children. Additionally, few studies have concentrated on identification of the major reasons behind domestic violence. This paper will focus on recognizing the major causes of family violence in London. The research study emphasizes solving the major problem by addressing its root causes.

Research Aim and Objective

Research aim and objectives of this paper are:

• Analyzing the experience of family violence.
• Understanding the perspective of the victims in order to indentify the root cause of family violence.
• Identification of the principle reasons of family violence in London.
• What are the major impact of family violences?
• What are the causes of family violence in London?

Research Questions

Literature Review

Family Violence: an Overview

Government of United Kingdom has defined domestic violence as, “Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality” (Domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk, 2014). A study was conducted by Council of Europe (2002), which has depicted that that one out of four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime (Council of Europe, 2002). A study undertaken by World Health Organization (WHO), have demonstrated that the family violence varies in different countries, cities and rural regions (García-Moreno et al., 2005). It has been observed that the partner violence contributes the maximum in homicide of the women across the world. According to Krug et al. (2002), 40 – 70% of the women murder victims were killed by their partners. 28% women reported about partner abuse (non-sexual) while 17% of the men have experience the same (Coleman et al. 2007).

Different Forms of Family Violence

Studies have identified different type of family violence which includes emotional, physical, financial, psychological and sexual abuse. Additionally, it is evident that the often the boundaries between the distinct behaviors of family violence is blurred. The psychological or the emotional abuse may be verbal or nonverbal. The principal aim of this type of abuse is to affect the independence as well as confidence of the victim. Threats of physical violence, blaming, isolating, yelling etc have profound impact on the mental health of the victims (Domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk, 2014). Physical abuse is one of the unbearable situations and it is most common in case of the intimate partner homicide. Sexual abuse takes place when the right of women to consent is ignored. According to Domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk (2014), 45% of the sexual abuse is committed by the current partners. The findings of several research studies have indicated that the women, who are raped by their partners, suffer from severe psychological imbalances due to the prolonged fear of the early experiences. Sometimes, controlling the money of the partner and exploiting assets by threatening. The financial abuse also includes forcing an individual to work against their will or may be preventing somebody from working, deliberately spending money and increase debt etc. Female genital mutilation, forced marriage also comes under the family violence.

Impact of Family Violence

Health Consequences

Family violence significantly affects the physical as well as mental health of the victim. Individuals who have been abused by their partners are more likely to suffer from different chronic health issues. Victims of the family violence suffer from anxiety, severe depression which leads to psychosomatic problems, change in the sleeping pattern, eating disorder, and commit suicide, sexual dysfunction (Botein and Hetling, 2010). Additionally, physical and sexual abuse results in injury in different body parts.

Impact of family violence on Children

Children have been found to be the major hidden victims of family violence. Research studies have depicted that family violence have significant negative implication on the children. It has been found that the families which have experienced domestic violence, 50% of the children have been also victimized by the same abuser. Additionally, it has been found that in case of family violence the 90% children witnesses the incident or they are in the next room. It has a significant impact on the psychology of the child. The mothers who are victim of the domestic violence are more likely to abuse their children physically (Abell and Ey, 2008). The children get traumatized which also severely affect the future life and may lead to personality disorders.

Root Causes of Family Violence

Different theories have explained the root causes of family violence. According to the feminist theory of origin and dynamics of domestic violence, the patriarchal attitudes, gender discrimination, fostered inequality etc are the major triggering factor of family violence. The cross cultural ethnographic studies have demonstrated that in the cultures which are male dominated, violence against women is more endemic (MAURICIO and GORMLEY, 2001). On the other hand, individual theories have significantly considered the developmental and personality theories. This theory has indentified some important factors such as disrupted parenting, personality disorders, early abuse trauma, emotional difficulties, disorganized attachment, insecurity, low self esteem which triggers a man to become violent to their partners (Saunders, 2001). These abusive people have major behavioral problems. According to the interpersonal theories indicate the root cause of family violence is associated with the relationship conflict. The poor communication between the family members, ineffective interactions are considered as the major factor for producing dysfunctional violence prone family system (Saunders, 2001). It helps in reinforcing as well as perpetuating the problem behaviors. According to this theory, all family members contribute to the cause of domestic violence. Moreover, the social theories significantly focus on the major influences of the social context including the collective social attitude, norms of the society, position of a woman etc (Jewkes, 2002).

Research Methodology

Research methodology is one of the most important components of research study which is responsible for designing the research study and determines the pathway. Research methodology provides an insight to the procedure which will be followed throughout the study for undertaking different research activities. This section will assist in depicting the overview of the different components of the research. It is basically a comprehensive approach that lucidly designs the routes to help the researcher in achieving the objectives of the research.  It is a crucial task to determine the research methodology as it significantly influence the success of the research study. In the research methodology, the particular approach adopted for undertaking the research activities such as prioritizing the actions, methods for collecting data, selection of tools for analyzing data etc. This section will focus on providing an idea how the research study will be undertaken (Dhawan, 2010). Additionally, each decision will be justified so that the reason for adopting that particular approach can be understood.

Research onion

Research is designed for addressing a specific problem or issue. Research onion is a systematic approach that assists in depicting the various stages of research activities which are crucial for meeting the goal of the study. Every layer of the research onion is associated with specific implication. The researcher is responsible for exploring the outer most layer of the research onion and undertakes the activities of each layer efficiently (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Following each layer of the research onion helps the researcher in reaching a firm conclusion at the end of the study. Research onion is an important aspect that helps the researcher in identifying the appropriate methods for undertaking the study. Research onion has been significantly contributing in structuring the research activities as well as determines suitable strategies for ensuring the research study in order to fulfill the objectives of the research.

(Source: (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012))

Research Philosophy

The research philosophy is the outer most layer of the research onion and all other research phases are significantly dependent on the research philosophy mentioned in the methodology. The researcher has a perspective which helps him analyze things and shape his understanding. The philosophy of the research is influenced by the personal point of the researcher and it determines what are the criteria for acceptable knowledge and the procedure for developing it. In this research study, the researcher will focus on analyzing the causes of family violence. In this study, generalized approach of cause and effect will be considered. Additionally, huge quantitative data will be utilized (Connolly and Craig, 2011). This research study clearly depicts that positivism philosophy will be suitable for this paper. Positivism philosophy helps in analyzing the gathered information with aid of mathematical tools.

Research Approach

Research approach is considered to be the second layer of research onion. It is also important to select the most suitable approach for conducting the research study. It has been found that in order to undertake research studies in the field of social sciences, two research approaches are considered by the researchers. Inductive and deductive research approaches are the most common approaches adopted in the research studies. Inductive approach is associated with collection of different types of data, analysis of the gathered data and observations and ultimately it focuses on establishing a new framework or theory at the end of the study. On the other hand, deductive approach is significantly reliant on the existing theoretical frameworks, past researches and therefore it sets hypothesis and tests it or analyzes the collected data (Dhawan, 2010). At the end of the study, it validates the theories mentioned before. In this case, in order to identify the major causes of family violence, existing literature needs to be reviewed and the study will be extensively dependent on the theories, past research works for analyzing the gathered primary data. Hence, deductive approach will be suitable for this paper.

Research Design

Third layer of the research onion is the design of the research study which is associated with directing the researcher towards the right pathway throughout the study. Research design of a particular study plays a major role in successfully conducting the study. The research design principally focuses on correlating the pathway of the research with the predetermined objectives of the research. The research design ensures that the superiority of the research study is maintained (Baur and Ernst, 2011).  There are major three types of research design which includes exploratory explanatory and descriptive research study. Descriptive research design will be suitable for this paper. The descriptive research will assist in relating the findings of the research with the research objectives (Kothari, 2004). Descriptive approach will be suitable for answering the research questions. Thus, the researcher can draw a firm conclusion at the end of the study.

Data Collection Method

The topic of the research exhibits that it will require huge information from reliable sources. Data collection is an important part of the research study as the results ad findings are extensively dependent on the collected data. Both primary and secondary data will be collected for this study.

Primary Data Collection Method

Primary data will be collected by interviewing the respondents.  First of all, a questionnaire needs to be prepared which will help to know about the personal experiences of domestic violence. There will be open ended as well as close ended questions and answering those will help in obtaining the necessary information for the research study (Baur and Ernst, 2011).

Secondary Data Collection Method

Secondary data refers to the information collected from existing theories, established frameworks and past researches. The researcher needs to use a wide range of peer reviewed journals, books, research papers, conference proceedings, reliable websites and newspaper articles for constructing the literature review section.

Data Analysis

The collected data needs to be analyzed by adopting appropriate method. In this research paper, qualitative and quantitative data will be analyzed. Hence, both qualitative and quantitative methods need to be adopted for this paper. Statistical tools will be used for analyzing the collected data and reporting the findings of the research (Khan, 2014).

Ethical Issues

The information gathered by interviewing the respondents is crucial for this study. However significant ethical concern is associated with data collection. First of all, before collecting data, the written consent must be obtained from the respondents. The personal experience of the respondents will be analyzed in this paper. But, the identities will not be disclosed (Corbetta, 2003). Additionally, the information will be only used for academic purpose.

Gantt Chart

References

Baur, N. and Ernst, S. (2011). Towards a process-oriented methodology: modern social science research methods and Norbert Elias’s figurational sociology. The Sociological Review, 59, pp.117-139.

Connolly, M. and Craig, T. (2011). Theory and Method in the Human Sciences. Schutzian Research. A Yearbook of Worldly Phenomenology and Qualitative Social Science, 3(-1), pp.253-259.

Corbetta, P. (2003). Social research. London: SAGE Publications.

Council of Europe, (2002). Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the protection of women against violence. Adopted on 30 April 2002 ; and Explanatory Memorandum. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe.

Dhawan, S. (2010). Research methodology for business and management studies. Delhi, India: Swastik Publications.

Domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk, (2014). What Is Domestic Violence? | Definition. [online] Available at: http://www.domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk/1-what-is-domestic-violence-/1-definition.html [Accessed 31 Dec. 2014].

Domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk, (2014). What Is Domestic Violence? | Emotional or Psychological Abuse. [online] Available at: http://www.domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk/1-what-is-domestic-violence-/3-emotional-or-psychological-abuse.html [Accessed 31 Dec. 2014].

García-Moreno, C., Jansen, H., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L. and Watts, C. (2005). WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organziation.

Khan, S. (2014). Qualitative Research Method – Phenomenology. ASS, 10(21).

Kothari, C. (2004). Research methodology. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012). Research methods for business students. 6th ed. Pearson, pp.143-149.