RESEARCH METHOD
How we study research and cases.
We begin with the work of those who studied the problem.
COMBATIVES uses studies, research, data and documented cases produced by institutions, researchers and professionals from different fields.
The objective is to understand what was studied, how it was studied, what appeared in the results and what limitations the work itself identifies.
These findings can then be compared with other studies, other cases and professional experience related to the subject.
First, the study. Then, what we can learn from it.
SIX POINTS
What we seek to understand in each study.
An isolated number or a conclusion removed from its context tells us very little.
Before using a study, we need to understand where its results came from.
01
Source
Who conducted the study, produced the data or documented the cases?
02
Sample
How many people, incidents, cases or records were studied? From what period and in what context?
03
Method
How was the information collected, classified and compared by the researchers?
04
Findings
What appeared in the results? What patterns, differences or relationships were identified?
05
Limitations
How far can those results reasonably be applied? What does the study not allow us to conclude?
06
Comparison
Did other studies find something similar? Are there differences in country, population, situation or methodology that need to be considered?
CONTEXT
Results need to be read within the study.
Research conducted with a particular group, type of violence, country or period may reveal something important without representing every other situation.
That is why certain information needs to remain attached to the result.
READING THE RESULTS
What did the research actually show?
Before turning a result into a statement, we return to the original work.
The question is simple: what did the researchers find, and how far can that finding reasonably be taken?
01 Who
Who was studied and in what context.
02 How many
The size of the sample or the number of cases analyzed.
03 What emerged
What results were identified by the authors.
04 How far it applies
What limitations need to accompany any conclusion.
RESEARCH & EXPERIENCE
Research and experience reveal different parts of the problem.
A study may bring together dozens, hundreds or thousands of cases and reveal patterns that individual experience would rarely make visible.
The experience of professionals who deal with that problem in practice can help clarify context, differences and questions that deserve closer examination.
Whenever possible, we place these two perspectives side by side and compare them with other work on the same subject.
Research allows us to compare experiences.
SOURCES
The source depends on the subject.
Violence, behavior, prevention and protection are studied across different fields. The relevant sources therefore change according to the question.
COMBATIVES consults work produced by public institutions, universities, research centers, law-enforcement agencies, statistical databases and other specialized sources.
The library below brings together the main references used in the project's research.
Research sources and institutional references
Institutions, databases, documents and references used for research and consultation.