Aspects of Research Ethics in Studies Involving Women Who Are Victims of Domestic Violence

Abstract

Even if research on women who experience acts of aggression within their home is mostly conducted similarly to other research involving human participants, a type of research that implies both respect for individual autonomy and other particular rights (like informed consent, or the protection of personal data, while avoiding to do unnecessary physical, patrimonial or psychological harm to those who take part in the research), the ones who fall victims acts of abuse in their household present a series of particularities that represent as many specific aspects of the research. The purpose of this paper is to identify these specific aspects and analyze the way to make sure that those particularities are the manner in which they must be taken into account in order to carry out ethical research.