Domestic Violence Legislation, Virtual Legal Methods and Researching One Female Teacher’s Lived Experiences of Recovery from Intimate Partner Violence During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the value of online qualitative research methodologies are increasingly being recognised within violence/abuse and legal research, but few academic papers explore the process of undertaking research wholly online which explores the intersect of both legal research methods and the exploration of the lived experiences of domestic abuse victims. For the potential of legal and domestic scholarly work to be fully recognised within academic publications and teaching, appropriate consideration of methodological issues surrounding qualitative online research methodologies is needed. This paper reflects on the experiences of one domestic abuse researcher undertaking online research during the UK’s national COVID19 lockdown when government legislation meant most socio-legal academics were restricted to conducting all research from their homes. This paper highlights the process where choosing the data collection online method (Microsoft Teams) was carefully considered to provide rich data insights that would help explore the research question under investigation. Online Microsoft Teams interviews were a successful method of undertaking scholarship examining one victims’ experience and its interconnectedness with the law. This was since they provided an in-depth understanding of the topic undertaken in a deeply private setting where a lack of face-to-face interaction seemed to enhance the richness of the data shared. The paper includes a total of five reflections are offered to help future researchers considering, and undertaking, online interviews within the field of domestic violence and legal research.