When Men Batter Women I. Research Methodology A. Introduction to family violence research Up until Jacobson and Gottman's study, historians, sociologists, lawyers and psychologists produced most of the information on domestic violence. Domestic Violence wasn't even thought of as a major societal problem until about twenty years ago when slowly did it even gain the recognition of social and behavioral scientists.
Violence is also a sensitive topic.
Because of the intimacy of the violent couples, they may be unwilling to share their experiences with outsiders and much less if the activities have the potential of causing stigmatization on one or both partners. B. Jacobson and Gottman's research methodology 1. Seeking couples experiencing conflict in their marriage. Although the study was to research mainly severely violent couples, the ad said nothing about physical violence. These couples were important for the researchers in order for them to have a control group.