Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault (2014) / Chapter Skim
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8 Potential Sources of Error: Nonresponse, Specification, and Measurement
8 Potential Sources of Error: Nonresponse, Specification, and Measurement
Pages 127-152
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From page 127... ...
Nonresponse bias is a product of the difference between respondents and nonrespondents on a particular measure and the size of the nonresponse population. A lower response rate increases the potential for greater nonresponse bias, but when the data are missing at random, a lower response rate will neither create nor increase nonresponse error.
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From page 128... ...
2 For comparison, in 2010 the Current Population Survey had monthly household response rates of 91-93 percent; the American Community Survey had a household response rate of 98 percent; the National Health Interview Survey had a household response rate of 82 percent; and the Consumer Expenditure Survey had a household response rate of 73 percent.
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From page 129... ...
. ing that the decision not to respond on the survey is unrelated to key study outcome measures, such as crime victimization, and that reweighting of the responding units may suffice to adjust for the missing data.
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From page 130... ...
. ment is to "inflate sample point estimates to known population totals to compensate for survey nonresponse and other aspects of the sample design" (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008b, p.
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CONCLUSION 8-1 The overall unit response rates, as calculated, on the National Crime Victimization Survey are moderately high and have been reasonably stable over the past 10 years. Although an independent analysis concluded that the methods that the Bureau of Justice Statistics uses to adjust for nonresponse appear to provide a satisfactory correc tion for nonresponse bias at the unit level, our panel has reservations about that analysis and remains concerned that there may be a nonre sponse bias related to sexual victimization.
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Figure 8-1 SOURCE: Data from National Crime Victimization Survey, 2007-2008. These attrition rates were calculated at the person level using linked longi tudinal files.
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. The results shown in both of these figures provide particular concern for the estimation of rape and sexual assault because the low responders -- particularly young people and females who are not part of a couple -- appear to be more at risk for being victims of those crimes.
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Figure 8-3 One could argue that someone who has been sexually victimized may be TABLE 8-3 Risk for Rape and Sexual Assault for Females, by Age and Marital Status, National Crime Victimization Survey, 1994-2009 95% Confidence Odds Ratio Interval Significance Age (in comparison with 50+)
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From page 135... ...
CONCLUSION 8-3 Although the Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes annual response rates for the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) , the published data do not include important details of re sponse, such as mode of data collection and attrition rate.
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From page 136... ...
CONCLUSION 8-4 The panel believes it is likely that item refusals on questions about sexual victimization on the National Crime Victim ization Survey may be recorded as if they were "no" response rather than item nonresponse when a respondent does not want to report a victimization. Another possibility is for a respondent to sometimes an swer "no" on screening questions simply to avoid additional questions in the survey.
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From page 137... ...
. these specific concepts into data collection, the respondent is asked the following question (Bureau of Justice Statistics, n.d.-d)
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(The section below on measurement error further discusses how respondents may misinterpret the words in these questions.) CONCLUSION 8-5 There is serious specification error in the National Crime Victimization Survey measurement of rape and sexual assault.
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From page 139... ...
On the NCVS, a respondent may not comprehend a critical question in the same way that BJS intends.6 For example, on the screening questionnaire (Bureau of Justice Statistics, n.d.-d) , a respondent is asked: Has anyone attacked or threatened you in any of these ways: • With any weapon, for instance, a gun or knife, • W ith anything like a baseball bat, frying pan, scissors, or stick, • By something thrown, such as a rock or bottle, • Include any grabbing, punching or choking, • Any rape, attempted rape or other type of sexual attack, • Any face to face threats, Or • ny attack or threat or use of force by anyone at all.
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From page 140... ...
Rasinski (2012) points out that in developing effective questions to solicit information about sexual victimizations, one must consider both the methodological aspects of designing sensitive questions and the specific nuances of talking about rape and sexual assault.
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From page 141... ...
The NCVS uses the word rape, as in Has anyone attacked or threatened you in any of these ways: (e) Any rape, attempted rape or other type of sexual assault The NCVS screener follows this with two other general cues regarding "incidents committed by someone you know" and "incidents involving forced or unwanted sexual acts." (See Chapter 4 for more details.)
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, and it is the panel's judgment that the use of behaviorally specific questions improves communication with the respondent and facilitates more consistent responses. CONCLUSION 8-6 Words, such as "rape" and "sexual assault," on the National Crime Victimization Survey may not be consistently understood by survey respondents.
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From page 143... ...
A respondent may fail to respond for these reasons even though the current NCVS screener has a cue reminding that "people often do not think of incidents committed by someone they know." Alternatively, the respondent may understand that the sexual victimization was criminal but may fear reprisal or may not want to get the other person "in trouble." Thus, the respondent may have reservations about answering questions about criminal incidents and the risk of disclosure to police. CONCLUSION 8-7 Questions about incidents of rape and sexual as sault in the National Crime Victimization Survey are asked in the con text of a criminal victimization survey and embedded within individual questions that describe other types of crimes.
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reported a mode effect in the NCVS, with rape reported at a rate 1.45 times higher in personal interviews compared to telephone interviews. Using Bayesian methods, the authors estimated the probabilities that a personal crime that had occurred was not reported in the interview.
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From page 145... ...
The interviewing manual for field representatives on administering the NCVS states (U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008, p.
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From page 146... ...
Most of the other victimizations involve less sensitive questions, and the field representative's main goal is to get a completed questionnaire from each household member. The training for interviewers does not stress the need for privacy, and the field representative is likely to view the need to have a completely private conversation as secondary to getting the completed interviews.
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From page 147... ...
CONCLUSION 8-8 The current data collection mode and methods of the National Crime Victimization Survey do not provide adequate privacy for collecting information on rape and sexual assault. This lack of privacy may be a major reason for underreporting of such incidents.
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A standard operational practice on surveys of sexual conduct or violence has been to use female interviewers. Female interviewers were used exclusively in the National Women's Study, the National College Women Sexual Victimization Study, and the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (discussed in Chapter 5)
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From page 149... ...
However the limited time devoted to training on asking sensitive questions, the need for privacy in asking those sensitive questions, and a fuller understanding of sexual victimization did not get the emphasis that is needed in order to ensure complete reporting. And even if adequate training could be provided, such training would not be reinforced through the day-to-day survey process because the NCVS is a generalpurpose criminal victimization survey, and an interviewer very infrequently gets a positive response on questions about rape and sexual assault.
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SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011a, pp.
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From page 151... ...
Census Bureau and Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010) : • the correct sample units were interviewed, • the listing sheets were completed or updated properly, • the household screens were completed or updated properly, • all screen questions were asked and all answers recorded, and • any noninterviews were classified accurately.
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From page 152... ...
CONCLUSION 8-10 Monitoring of interviewers is important to ensure quality and to identify areas in which an individual interviewer needs reinforcement and areas in which improved training is needed. The monitoring method used in the National Crime Victimization Survey, periodic reinterviews of selected respondents, is not adequate to ensure interviewing quality.
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