Advancing the Federal Research Agenda on Violence Against Women

This report expands on the work of an earlier National Research Council panelwhose report, Understanding Violence Against Women, was published in 1996. Thereport is based on the presentations and deliberations of a workshop convened inJanuary 2002, at the request of Congress, to develop a detailed research agendaon violence against women. While some of the research recommendations in theearlier report have been funded and carried out, the workshop demonstrated thatimportant gaps remain. For example, prevalence and incidence data are still inadequateto measure trends or to reveal whether interventions being designed underfederal programs are, in fact, working. Among its primary recommendations, thecommittee underscored the importance of strengthening the data and researchinfrastructure in this area, especially the need for better prevalence data and longitudinaldata to determine the causes of violent victimization of women and the impactof interventions.