Prevalence of wife abuse in the Netherlands - Combining quantitative and qualitative methods in survey research

This article presents data from the first national survey an the prevalence of wife abuse in the Netherlands, conducted among a representative sample of 1,016 women between 20 and 60 years of age. The article starts with a discussion of methodological and definitional issues in survey research on violence against women. The methodological measures are discussed: the design of a semistructured interview schedule that enabled flexible but controlled data collection. Main results on prevalence and consequences of wife abuse in the Netherlands are presented. Method and findings are discussed in relation to earlier findings and the debate on quality of survey data on wife abuse.