“It Happens All the Time”:

It is suggested that one-time, retrospective interview methods may substantially underestimate the level of the women's experience with chronic community violence and that repeated weekly interviews offer a more thorough and detailed assessment that may serve as a concurrent validity check for brief, structured instruments.

Abstract

To date, most researchers concerned with chronic community violence have studied children's experiences and used one-time interviews. In contrast, this study focused on the extent and variety of women's experiences, and used a combination of one-time and repeated interviews. Based on a study of women's experience with chronic community violence, this article argues for the value of repeated, in-depth interviewing about current experience as a method of studying encounters with high-frequency, potentially traumatic events. In short, it suggests that one-time, retrospective interview methods may substantially underestimate the level of the women's experience with chronic community violence and that repeated weekly interviews offer a more thorough and detailed assessment that may serve as a concurrent validity check for brief, structured instruments.