Commission on Domestic 'Violence - Subcommitee on Research and Data Collection on domestic violence
Subcommittee on Research and Data Collection has been established, which brings together the main sectors in the field of domestic violence, such as health, police and the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, is also being set up. It consists of representatives of the research/data sections of various entities and Ministries that touch with the issue of domestic violence.
The Prevalence of Domestic Violence against Women in Malta January 2011
Commission on Domestic Violence 3
Research Methodology
The quantitative research survey was conducted by means of in-depth one-to-one, personal interviews with 1,200 female survey respondents from Malta and Gozo during the months of February-March, 2010. The sample frame was equally distributed among Malta’s six (6) geographical regions, and broken down into 4 distinct age categories, namely 18 yrs-29 yrs; 30 yrs-39 yrs; 40 yrs-49 yrs and 50 yrs-59 yrs.
In the final detailed Research Findings Report, the research findings are presented by way of age, geographical region, occupation, and education of survey respondents. The Report illustrates these research findings through statistical tables comprising absolute figures and percentages, and graphical
illustrations by way of barcharts.
To ensure data comparability and quality, the research instrument entitled ‘Survey on Women’s Health and Life Events’, used for the WHO Multi-country study to assess the prevalence of different forms of violence against women by intimate partners in 15 sites in ten study countries between 2000 and 2003,
was employed as the ‘base’ research instrument for this nationwide research study.
In this study, domestic violence was examined within the context of an intimate relationship between
partners. The research instrument (survey questionnaire) made provisions for the subdivision of the
current relationship status of the total 1,200 female respondents into two categories, namely: “ever
partnered” respondents encompassing those females who were currently married/cohabiting/or had a
regular partner but were living apart, and those females who currently had no partner but with past sexual
relationship, were divorced/ separated, or widowed. “Never partnered” respondents with no sexual relationship ever made up the second category.
The nationwide quantitative research study adhered to ethical and safety guidelines as set by the World Health Organisation for domestic violence research. Adopted measures centred on the objective of ensuring confidentiality and privacy, primarily through the safety of the survey respondents and the MF&A field research team, to improve the quality of the data compiled.
Aims and objectives
The Commission on Domestic Violence (CDV) leaded a market research company, to conduct a nationwide quantitative research study. The overriding research objective of this study was: to assess the prevalence of domestic violence in the Maltese Islands and its impact on the employment prospects of the relative victims;
- to have informed data on the domestic violence phenomena.
The specific objectives of the quantitative research project were four-fold, namely:
1. To bolster the general scientific knowledge base on domestic violence in Malta, which would, in turn, serve as a sound platform for the policy and service development planning for the betterment of services offered to domestic violence survivors.
2. To assess the impact of domestic violence on the employment prospects of domestic violence female survivors.
3. To support present efforts to rationalize routine data administration and the undertaking of other related studies that are aimed at building a more comprehensive understanding of the extent and scale of the ‘domestic violence against women’ phenomenon in Malta.
4. To collect, analyse and report primary data research findings, by way of a pre-formulated research instrument, which would allow for survey data to be collected and analysed through a standardized and comparative, international framework.
Creator/owner/responsible institution
Government of Malta - Ministry for Justice, Dialogue and the Family
Stakeholder, Firstname: Commission on Domestic Violence
Additional information
Nuts code: 3