Though it is of extreme importance, it cannot be denied that social science research does not receive the same appreciation compared to researches about hard sciences. The society should put an equal weight and appreciation on the efforts and findings of social science researches, especially because these studies often discuss practical, day to day issues that concern the society in many different ways. These studies aid in providing practical and technical perspectives and approaches in dealing and solving societal challenges.
The study entitled “Barriers to Domestic Violence Help Seeking” (Fugate, Landis, Riordan, Naureckas, & Engel, 2005), which can be considered as an Exploratory Research, speaks highly of the concepts that were covered in this week’s discussions. The authors of the research studied the factors that serve as barriers to victims of domestic violence in reporting or seeking help for their situation. One of the strengths of the study, is the appropriate use of statistics which helped them make accurate generalizations of the sample. Moreover, the way the authors categorize the responses of the victims helped in establishing the variations of the actual answers given by the respondents. Moreover, the variations have definitely helped in making the research easier to understand to readers, even though they do not share the same experience with the respondents. Another strength of the study, is how it can be observed that the authors employed the use of Social theories in the study (Chambliss & Schutt,2013). This has definitely helped in framing and providing a lens, which the readers can use in analyzing the variables in study. However, one of the most noticeable weaknesses of the study, is how it did not seem to consider factors that are more relevant to today’s society. One of which, is the impact of technology in the issue of domestic violence. It cannot be denied that technology plays a huge role in many reported cases of domestic violence, which is why it could have been better if it was considered in the study.
References
Chambliss, D. F., & Schutt, R. K. (2013). Making Sense of the Social World (4th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Fugate, M., Landis, L., Riordan, K., Naureckas, S., & Engel, B. (2005). Barriers to Domestic Violence Help Seeking. Violence Against Women,11(3), 290-310. doi:10.1177
