Investigating Animal Abuse: Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues

The underlying assumptions of this study include:

• in the study of animal abuse experiences it is necessary to understand participants' conceptualizations of animal abuse;
  
• it is important to use qualitative, in addition to quantitative data, especially if we want to gain a deeper insight into animal abuse experiences, in particular into perpetrators' motivations;
  
• it is imperative that the field of animal abuse research is considered an integral and important component not only of psychiatry and clinical psychology but also of sociology and social psychology;
  
• the commonalities between animal abuse and interpersonal violence are deep and numerous.