Methodological issues and practical problems in conducting research on maltreated children

This paper addresses several methodological and practical problems encountered in studies of child maltreatment. Among the most significant issues are: 1. Developing classification schemes for multiple forms of maltreatment; 2. Distinguishing between chronic maltreatment and isolated incidents of maltreatment; 3. Identifying potential sources of bias in study samples; 4. Choosing criteria for selecting comparison groups of nonmaltreated children; 5. Determining whether comparison groups have experienced maltreatment; 6. Deciding whether study participants should be informed that the research concerns maltreatment; and 7. Tracking respondents in longitudinal studies. Discussions and illustrations of these problems draw from the author's research on the psychological consequences of abuse for children.