Engaging in gender based violence research: adopting a feminist and participatory perspective

Researching gender based violence involves different challenges for both participants and researchers, including risks to their mental well-being and physical safety. The possibilities of such research having adverse effects for participants are often stronger in cross-cultural research, since researchers are not always well aware of the locally and culturally specific sensitivities in relation to the issue of gender based violence. The unequal power relations between researcher and participants, which can exist in all settings, may be exacerbated in contexts of cultural difference. To mitigate these risks and instead attempt to make research a beneficial or even transformative experience for participants, researchers can consider adopting feminist and participatory approaches. After explaining in more detail the risks of gender based violence research, this chapter describes how feminist and participatory research methods respond to these risks, highlighting particularly the scope for creative approaches to such research.