Collecting research evidence to inform programming to tackle violence against young women and girls: the importance of diverse data for policy making

In September 2024, the devolved Northern Ireland government published their Strategic Framework to end violence against women and girls. In this article, we report the key results of two studies that were undertaken to inform this Strategy: Young Life and Times (YLT)—an annual social attitude survey of 16-year olds, and the bespoke ‘It’s just what happens’ study which was commissioned to qualitatively explore the views and experiences of girls and young women in relation to gender-based violence (GBV). YLT survey data are presented on the prevalence of GBV experiences and perceived barriers to reporting violence. Qualitative data gathered through focus groups and interviews are drawn on to demonstrate how these methods surface additional information, context and nuance that could not be captured in large-scale surveys alone. Young women experience disproportionately high levels of GBV compared to young men, whilst, at the same time, more barriers to reporting. Qualitative data from the bespoke survey flesh out the prevalence data with young women’s lived experiences. This paper demonstrates the value of diverse data for providing a more holistic understanding of complex social issues which, we argue, can benefit the development and evaluation of targeted policy interventions.