RT Article T1 Free-text comments as a tool for developing the self-report method: Parents’ responses to a survey on violence against children JF The Australian and New Zealand journal of criminology VO 51 IS 1 SP 58 OP 75 A1 Ellonen, Noora A1 Pösö, Tarja A1 Fagerlund, Monica LA English YR 2018 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1737504014 AB Self-report measures are used to study the degree of victimisation in children that have experienced violence. Very little methodological attention is, however, paid to development of these measures. In this article, we will analyse parents’ free-text comments in response to a self-report survey of their own violent behaviour towards their children. Themes presented by parents concerning violence against children as a phenomenon will be analysed and methodological input of these free-text comments in a self-report survey will be examined. Analysis is based on survey data collected in Finland in 2011 (N = 3170) including 2047 free-text comments. Based on the thematic analysis of those comments, four themes were phrased: making sense of the responses, defining violence, children and violence in society and experiencing exclusion. Parents’ comments with respect to these themes reflected the complexity of what actually constitutes violence against children. Analysis also showed that free-text comments are a valuable and ethically sound tool for developing the self-report measure. K1 Free-text comments K1 Self-report measure K1 Survey K1 Victimisation K1 Violence against children DO 10.1177/0004865816671381