Face-to-face interviewing is a common data collection technique in violence against women research. To guide the development of interviewer training programs, the authors conducted an empirical study on adult rape survivors' recommendations for interview practice. They asked survivors what interviewers should know about rape and how they should interact with participants. Data from 92 survivors revealed that interviewer training needs to emphasize diversity so that researchers are capable of working effectively with individuals with different life circumstances. The survivors also emphasized that interviewers need to show warmth and compassion and allow them to exercise choice and control during the interview process.
Acker, J., Barry, K., & Esseveld, J. (1983). Objectivity and truth: Problems in doing feminist research. Women's Studies International Forum, 6, 423-435.
2.
Adams, A.E., Sullivan, C.M., Bybee, D., & Greeson, M. (2008). Development of the Scale of Economic Abuse. Violence Against Women, 14, 563-588.
3.
Baker, C.K., Cook, S.L., & Norris, F.H. (2003). Domestic violence and housing problems: A contextual analysis of women's help-seeking, received informal support, and formal system response. Violence Against Women, 9, 754-783.
4.
Bennett, L., Goodman, L., & Dutton, M.A. (2000). Risk assessment among batterers arrested for domestic assault: The salience of psychological abuse. Violence Against Women, 6, 1190-1203.
5.
Bergen, R.K. (1996). Wife rape: Understanding the response of survivors and service providers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6.
Bergen, R. K., Renzetti, C. M., & Edleson, J. L. (Eds.). (2004). Violence against women: Classic papers . Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
7.
Block, C.R., McFarlane, J.M., Walker, G.R., & Devitt, C.O. (1999). Beyond public records databases: Field strategies for locating and interviewing proxy respondents in homicide research. Homicide Studies, 3, 349-366.
8.
Brzuzy, S., Ault, A., & Segal, E.A. (1997). Conducting qualitative interviews with women survivors of trauma. Affilia, 12, 76-83.
9.
Campbell, J.C., & Dienemann, J.A. (2001). Ethical issues in research on violence against women. In C. M. Renzetti , J. L. Edelson, & R. K. Bergen (Eds.), Sourcebook on violence against women (pp. 57-72). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
Campbell, J.C., Webster, D., Koziol-McLain, J., Block, C.R., Campbell, D., Curry, M.A., et al. (2003). Risk factors for femicide in abusive relationships: Results from a multi-site case control study. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1089-1097.
11.
Campbell, R. (1996). The Community Response to Rape Project: Interviewer manual. East Lansing: Michigan State University.
12.
Campbell, R. (2002). Emotionally involved: The impact of researching rape. New York: Routledge.
13.
Campbell, R., Adams, A.E., Wasco, S.M., Ahrens, C.E., & Sefl, T. (in press). What has it been like for you to talk to me today? The impact of participating in interview research on rape survivors. Violence Against Women.
14.
Campbell, R., Sefl, T., Barnes, H.E., Ahrens, C.E., Wasco, S.M., & Zaragoza-Diesfeld, Y. (1999). Community services for rape survivors: Enhancing psychological well-being or increasing trauma? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 847-858.
15.
Campbell, R., Sefl, T., Wasco, S.M., & Ahrens, C.E. (2004). Doing community research without a community: Creating safe space for rape survivors. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33, 253-261.
16.
Campbell, R., Townsend, S.M., Long, S.M., Kinnison, K.E., Pulley, E.M., Adames, S.B., et al. (2006). Responding to sexual assault victims' medical and emotional needs: A national study of the services provided by SANE programs . Research in Nursing & Health, 29, 384-398.
17.
Campbell, R., Wasco, S.M., Ahrens, C.E., Sefl, T., & Barnes, H.E. (2001). Preventing the "second rape": Rape survivors' experiences with community service providers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 1239-1259.
18.
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
19.
Cook, S.L. (2002). Self-reports of sexual, physical, and nonphysical abuse perpetration: A comparison of three measures. Violence Against Women, 8, 541-565.
20.
DeVault, M.L. (1996). Talking back to sociology: Distinctive contributions of feminist methodology. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 29-50.
21.
Dobash, R.E., & Dobash, R. (1979). Violence against wives. New York: Free Press.
22.
Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2002). Bearing witness: Ethics in domestic violence research . Lancet, 359, 1599-1604.
23.
Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2005). Researching violence against women: A practical guide for researchers and activists. Washington, DC: World Health Organization, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health.
24.
Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., Pena, R., Agurto, S., & Winkvist, A. (2001). Researching domestic violence against women: Methodological and ethical considerations. Studies in Family Planning, 32, 1-16.
25.
Erickson, F. (1986). Qualitative methods in research on teaching. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 119-161). New York: Macmillan.
26.
Fonow, M.M., & Cook, J.A. (1991). Back to the future: A look at the second wave feminist epistemology and methodology. In M. M. Fonow & J. A. Cook (Eds.), Beyond methodology: Feminist scholarship as lived research (pp. 1-15). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
27.
Frohmann, L. (1991). Discrediting victims' allegations of sexual assault: Prosecutorial accounts of case rejections. Social Problems , 38, 213-226.
28.
Garcia-Moreno, C. (2001). Putting women first: Ethical and safety recommendations for research on domestic violence against women. Geneva , Switzerland: World Health Organization.
29.
Gondolf, E., Yllo, K., & Campbell, J. (1997). Collaboration between researchers and advocates . In G. K. Kantor & J. Jasinski (Eds.), Out of darkness: Contemporary research perspectives on family violence (pp. 255-267). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
30.
Gordon, M.T., & Riger, S. (1989). The female fear: The social cost of rape. New York: Free Press.
31.
Jansen, H.A.F.M., Watts, C., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Garcia-Moreno, C. (2004). Interviewer training in the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 7, 831-849.
32.
Jewkes, R., Watts, C., Abrahams, N., Penn-Kekana, L., & Garcia-Moreno, C. (2000). Ethical and methodological issues in conducting research on gender-based violence in Southern Africa . Reproductive Health Matters, 8, 93-103.
33.
Kelly, L. (1988). Surviving sexual violence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
34.
Koss, M.P., Yuan, N.P., Dightman, D., Prince, R.J., Polacca, M., Sanderson, B., et al. (2003). Adverse childhood exposures and alcohol dependence among seven NativeAmerican tribes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25, 238-244.
35.
Matthews, N.A. (1994). Confronting rape: The feminist anti-rape movement and the state. New York: Routledge .
36.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
37.
Newman, E., & Kaloupek, D.G. (2004).The risks and benefits of participating in trauma focused research studies. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17, 383-394.
38.
Newman, E., Risch, E., & Kassam-Adams, N. (2006). Ethical issues in trauma-related research: A review. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 1, 29-46.
39.
Oakley, A. (1988). Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms. In H. Roberts (Ed.), Doing feminist research (pp. 30-61). New York: Routledge .
40.
Ogle, R.L., & Baer, J.S. (2003). Addressing the service linkage problem: Increasing substance abuse treatment engagement using personalized feedback interventions in heavy-using female domestic violence shelter residents. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 1311-1324.
41.
Reddy, M.K., Fleming, M.T., Howells, N.L., Rabenhorst, M.M., Casselman, R., & Rosenbaum, A. (2006). Effect of method on participants and disclosure rates in research on sensitive topics. Violence & Victims , 21, 499-506.
42.
Reinharz, S., & Chase, S.W. (2002). Interviewing women. In J. F. Gubrium & J. A. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview research: Context and method (pp. 221-238). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
43.
Rosenbaum, A., & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. (2006). Meta-research on violence and victims: The impact of data collection methods on findings and participants . Violence & Victims, 21, 404-409.
44.
Rosenbaum, A., Rabenhorst, M.M., Reddy, M.K., Fleming, M.T., & Howells, N.L. (2006). A comparison of methods for collecting self-report data on sensitive topics. Violence & Victims, 21, 461-471.
45.
Russell, D.E.H. (1974). The politics of rape: The victim's perspective . New York: Stein & Day.
46.
Russell, D.E.H. (1982). Rape in marriage. New York : Macmillan.
47.
Russell, D.E.H. (1984). Sexual exploitation: Rape, child sexual abuse, and workplace harassment. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
48.
Sandelowski, M. (1994). The use of quotes in qualitative research. Research in Nursing and Health, 17, 479-482.
49.
Stein, C.H., & Mankowski, E.S. (2004). Asking, witnessing, interpreting, knowing: Conducting qualitative research in community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33, 21-35.
50.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
51.
Sullivan, C.M., Bybee, D.I., & Allen, N.E. (2002). Findings from a community-based program for battered women and their children. Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 17, 915-936.
52.
Sullivan, C.M., & Cain, D. (2004). Ethical and safety considerations when obtaining information from or about battered women for research purposes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19, 603-618.
53.
Sullivan, C.M., & Rumptz, M.H. (1997). Training paraprofessionals to interview mobile research participants in a community setting. East Lansing : Michigan State University.
54.
Sullivan, C.M., Tan, C., Basta, J., Rumptz, M., & Davidson, W.S. (1992). An advocacy intervention for women with abusive partners: Initial evaluation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 209-332.
55.
Sutherland, C.A., Sullivan, C.M., & Bybee, D.I. (2001). Effects of intimate partner violence versus poverty on women's health. Violence Against Women, 7, 1122-1143.
56.
Thompson, S.K., & Seber, G.A.F. (1996). Adaptive sampling. New York : John Wiley.
57.
Yuan, N.P., Koss, M.P., Polacca, M., & Goldman, D. (2006). Risk factors for physical assault and rape among six NativeAmerican tribes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 21, 1566-1590.
