Conducting research with, and on perpetrators of domestic and family violence: Insights from Australian research

Abstract

Within criminology, we have learned a lot about ‘what works’ in preventing offending and reoffending through the analysis of perpetrator data, in particular, understanding motivations to commit crime, strategies used by offenders to minimise cognitive dissonance, and the causes of desistance. However, as a field, domestic, and family violence (DFV), researchers have relied primarily on victims-survivors of these behaviours to develop knowledge about perpetrators, primarily because of concerns about perpetrators not being reliable sources of information about their own behaviours. Drawing on our collective decades’ worth of experiences undertaking research on the experiences of victim-survivors and perpetrators of DFV, this chapter provides practical advice for any researcher seeking to conduct research on and with perpetrators of DFV, as well as specific considerations for the collection and analysis of perpetrator data. This includes options for data collection, as well as their strengths and limitations, the recruitment of research participants, and how to avoid collusion with perpetrators, and vicarious trauma when researching DFV.