TY - JOUR T1 - Methodological issues in the study of violence against women JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health JO - J Epidemiol Community Health SP - ii26 LP - ii31 DO - 10.1136/jech.2007.059907 VL - 61 IS - Suppl 2 AU - Isabel Ruiz-Pérez AU - Juncal Plazaola-Castaño AU - Carmen Vives-Cases Y1 - 2007/12/01 UR - http://jech.bmj.com/content/61/Suppl_2/ii26.abstract N2 - The objective of this paper is to review the methodological issues that arise when studying violence against women as a public health problem, focusing on intimate partner violence (IPV), since this is the form of violence that has the greatest consequences at a social and political level. The paper focuses first on the problems of defining what is meant by IPV. Secondly, the paper describes the difficulties in assessing the magnitude of the problem. Obtaining reliable data on this type of violence is a complex task, because of the methodological issues derived from the very nature of the phenomenon, such as the private, intimate context in which this violence often takes place, which means the problem cannot be directly observed. Finally, the paper examines the limitations and bias in research on violence, including the lack of consensus with regard to measuring events that may or may not represent a risk factor for violence against women or the methodological problem related to the type of sampling used in both aetiological and prevalence studies. ER -