There was unanimity across all focus groups that service providers disliked the processes of ongoing data collection for funding agencies. They agreed that such tasks took time away from direct services and did not seem to provide useful data for making policy decisions or convincing others of the need for more funding. Practitioners' positive experiences resulted from participating in research projects that developed clear, mutually established goals that gave paramount consideration to victim safety and possible reactions, and that kept victim service providers informed and involved throughout the process. Many negative experiences with research were described by the focus group participants. These negative experiences resulted primarily from what practitioners perceived as a degree of remoteness, or even arrogance, on the part of the researchers.
Participation is too time consuming.
Lack of diversity in research topics and participants. Difficulty identifying victims who are willing to participate in research projects. Individual researchers with whom practitioners had had bad experiences. Need for greater collaboration among researchers so that efforts are not duplicative. Need for practitioners to be actively involved in the conceptualization of research.