Domestic violence is defined as any event of controlling or threatening action, against persons aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members. This may include, but is not limited to: psychological, sexual, financial or emotional. Controlling behavior includes behaviors constructed to make a person subordinate and dependent by separating them from sources of support (such as family) and depriving them of the means necessary for independence, resistance and escape, e.g. money and education. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay There are several problems with domestic violence research. Some include researcher distress, limited research on same-sex couples, and participant safety. Nikischer (2018) suggests that vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress may occur in researchers due to repeated exposure to experiences of domestic violence. McClennen (2005) argues that such research still oppresses and ignores the idea that there is domestic violence in couples outside of the heterosexual norm, despite society being more open to such couples. Finally, researchers such as McGarry and Ali (2016) suggest that there is insufficient protection for participants outside of the study, and that new forms of consent should be explored alongside practices such as advice during and after the study. A problem with researching domestic violence is that it can harm professionals working with victims of domestic violence. Baird and Kracen (2006) described vicarious trauma as any harmful changes that occur in a specialist's view of themselves and the world, resulting from experiences with their clients' traumatic material. Nikischer (2018) suggests that much of the research conducted on vicarious trauma focuses on counseling and other similar health care areas. Maguire and Byrne (2017) provided an example from outside of healthcare, where criminal lawyers are also exposed to trauma in the course of their work and are therefore both at risk of vicarious trauma. In places like crisis centers, protections are put in place to support their workers, but professionals have been unable to avoid compassion fatigue, stress, and vicarious trauma from the stories they have heard. trauma. Nikischer (2018) argues that researchers may feel alone in their field of work while others avoid research. Additionally, researchers may experience guilt and discomfort, meaning they may feel guilty for not being able to support participants, while researchers benefit from the data provided by participants. Based on the information provided by participants, Nikischer suggests that researchers may experience a sense of powerlessness when participants offer their time and personal stories without receiving anything in return. When reporting on the stories heard, researchers may experience additional vicarious trauma as they have to listen to the stories again. Another major problem with domestic violence research is that it primarily focuses on heterosexual couples, with limited research on domestic violence and LGBTQ. Hester and Donovan (2009) suggest that abuse in heterosexual couples became visible in the late 1960s;During the 1980s, lesbian couples and domestic violence were addressed, but male relationships were still largely ignored. It is suggested that this was due to a largely homophobic community, so people tried to limit and deny the existence of same-sex relationships between men. McClennen (2005) suggested that over the past 20 years, research on same-sex couples and domestic violence has been largely non-existent. Hester (2004) argued that there was a lack of research on same-sex couples because domestic violence was produced as a social construct for masculinity and the power and dominance of a man over a woman. Many studies conducted on same-sex relationships and domestic violence claim that it is not the same as abuse in heterosexual relationships. In lesbian relationships, domestic violence was a gender and power scenario, but definitions needed to be modified to accommodate the different experiences and meanings related to domestic violence (Renzetti, 1993). There has been little or no research into homosexual domestic violence and very little acknowledgment that it exists. Henderson (2003) conducted research between April and September 2000 and found that 22% of lesbian and bisexual women and 29% of gay and bisexual men had experienced domestic violence within a same-sex relationship. McClennen (2005) argued that research is limited to a homosexual sample because domestic violence is a very sensitive topic to discuss and its relationship to same-sex couples has further intimidated researchers. Because of the differences between same-sex and heterosexual couples and domestic violence in areas such as help-seeking behavior, research needs to be individual and specific to same-sex couples instead of being mixed with heterosexual couples and assuming that They have the same attitudes and behaviors towards domestic violence. The final issue related to domestic violence research is the well-being and safety of the participants in such a study. One issue that can affect a study is a participant's self-esteem, that is, they may feel that they have nothing valuable to contribute to a study (Kitzinger, 1995 ). One way to solve this problem is to use focus groups, which removes the fear of an individual environment that might cause additional stress to a participant, and it allows the needs of the participants to come before the agenda of the researcher ( Wilkinson, 1998). Their self-esteem may be increased by one-on-one interviews because they feel useless and unable to provide useful insight for the study. Their well-being can be protected by using focus groups, as it allows them to benefit from support from groups of people in a similar situation. McGarry and Ali (2016) argue that there is an increased risk to participants regarding consent forms and copies of information sheets. Participants may not feel safe keeping them, especially if the abuser is still in contact. This is because the abuser may have found the consent forms "therefore knowing that the participant is participating in a domestic violence study", which could cause more harm to the participant, if the abuser becomes violent , thus putting him at greater risk than if researchers took verbal consent or did not provide copies of the forms. Davis et al. (2001) also suggested that due to the nature of the study, it could potentially mentally harm the participants as they are survivors of violence.