These are some of the questionnaires, surveys, and scales that have been used to collect data in studies of sexual violence, with references to articles citing them. The complete instrument may not appear in the article; many are copyrighted and available for purchase. The sections are organized alphabetically by the name of the evaluation measure. A-F, G-R, S-Z.
A-F
Attitudes About Relationship Violence Questionnaire: This 11-item questionnaire is a composite measure developed to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, and methods of dealing with relationship violence.
In: MacGowan, M.J. (1997). An evaluation of a dating violence prevention program for middle school students. Violence and Victims, 12, 223-236.
Attitudes Toward Rape Questionnaire: This 25-item questionnaire addresses the nature of sex differences regarding commonly held rape myths among college students. Respondents were asked to rate their degree of agreement or disagreement with statements such as "it would do some women some good to get raped," and "women provoke rape by their appearance or behavior using a 6-point rating scale.
In: Barnett, N.J. & Field, H.S. (1977). Sex differences in university students' attitudes toward rape. Journal of College Student Personnel, 18, 93-96.
Attitudes Toward Rape Victims Scale: The Attitudes Toward Rape Victims Scale (ARVS) is designed to assess attitudes related toward rape victims. The 25-item questionnaire consists of 8 positive and 17 negative statements about rape victims which deal with areas of credibility, denigration, deservingness, trivialization, and victim blame.
In: Ward, C. (1988). The Attitudes toward Rape Victims Scale: Construction, validation, and cross-cultural applicability. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 12, 127-146.
Attribution of Rape Blame Scale: This 20 item questionnaire examines the ways people account for rape. The extent to which individuals blame situations, offenders, society, or victims is examined. Example questions include: "Women entice men to rape them," "Rape is more likely to occur in slum or 'bad' areas," and "A man who commits rape should be locked up for his act." This scale can be used to measure attitudes before and after community education or service provider training programs.
In: Resick, P.A. & Jackson, T.L. (1981). Attitudes toward rape among mental health professionals. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 481-490.
College Date Rape Attitude and Behavior Survey: The College Date Rape Attitude and Behavior Survey (CDRABS) was based on a literature review that focused on risk factors for date rape. The questionnaire measures attitudes related to date rape among college students, and behaviors that may affect the date rape risk. Internal consistency was high for attitudes and moderate for behaviors. The questionnaire has been used to evaluate a college date rape prevention program.
In: Lanier, C.A. & Elliot, M.N. (1997). A new instrument for the evaluation of a date rape prevention program. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 673-676.
Conflict Tactics Scale: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scale was designed to measure the use of reasoning, verbal aggression, and violence within family conflict. Items range from low in coerciveness (such as discussing an issue) to high in aggressiveness (such as hit, kicked, threatened with weapon). In recent years the CTS has been used in research with high school populations (see O'Keefe, M. (1997). Predictors of dating violence among high school students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 546-568).
In: Straus, M.A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scale. Journal of Marriage and Family, 41, 75-88.
Consent to Sex Scale: The Consent to Sex Scale (CSS) was designed to measure five factors of consent: nonvebal signals, passive behaviors, varbal cues, initiator behaviors, and removal barriers. It was developed through research targetting college age students.
In: Jozkowski, K., & Petersen, Z. (2013). Assesing the validity and reliability of the perceptions of the consent to sex scale. Journal of Sex Research, 0, 1-14.
Dominance Scale: This scale explores three forms of dominant behavior which may be found in dating relationships: authority, restrictiveness, and disparagement. Previous results indicate that the restrictiveness subscale is most closely related to partner violence.
In: Hamby, S.L. (1996). The Dominance Scale: Preliminary psychometric properties. Violence and Victims, 11, 199-212.
Forcible Date Rape Scale: The Forcible Date Rape Scale (FDR) consists of 9-items that measure attitudes towards the use of force to obtain sexual access.
In: Fischer, G.J. & Chen, J. (1994). The Attitudes Toward Forcible Date Rape Scale: Development of a measurement model. Journal of Psychopathology & Behavioral Assessment, 16, 33-51.
G-R
Gender Stereotyping: From the SAFE DATES curriculum, an 11-item measure (developed by Foshee et al. 1998) used to evaluate the rigidity of sex role beliefs. Includes questions such as "It is more important for boys than girls to do well in school" and "Most women can't be trusted". Response choices are on a four-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
In: Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K.E., Arriaga, X.B., Helms, R.W., Koch, G.G., & Linder, G.F. (1998). An evaluation of Safe Dates, an adolescent dating violence prevention program. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 45-50.
Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale: These scales were designed to provide a set of outcome measures that could be used across educational programs. Because educational objectives are different for male and female students, instruments were developed for males and females; a short form is also available. All measures are available on the Interpersonal Violence Prevention Information Center website. [Posted 10/22/07.]
In: Payne, D. L., Lonsway, K. A., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (1999). Rape Myth Acceptance: Exploration of Its Structure and Its Measurement Using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 33, 27-68.
Intervention in Dating Violence: This 7-item measure is used to assess pretest-posttest changes in behavioral intention following a dating violence prevention program used in several Canadian high schools. Students are asked to indicate how they would respond if they became aware of, or were witness to abuse among their peers.
In: Jaffe, P.G., Suderman, M., Reitzel, D., & Killip, S.M. (1992). An evaluation of a secondary school primary prevention program on violence in intimate relationships. Violence and Victims, 7, 129-146.
Inventory of Sexual Pressure Dynamics: The Inventory or Sexual Pressure Dynamics (ISPD) is a 21 item questionnaire which assess the use of verbal statements (promises, insincere statements of affection); persistent physical attempts (continuous body contacts, roving hands); threats of force (threatened bodily injury); and use of force (hitting or twisting arms) in premarital sexual interactions. Participants were asked if they had been pressured into the behavior listed above.
In: Christopher, F. S. (1988). An initial investigation into a continuum of premarital sexual pressure. Journal of Sex Research, 25, 255-266.
Rape Myth Scale: The Rape Myth Scale (RMS) is a 19 item scale which was developed to examine various aspects of the rape myth construct, including: false charges, victim-desire, victim precipitation , and trivialization of rape. This scale has short items and simple wording that makes it appropriate for use with middle school students.
In: Lonsway, K.A. & Fitzgerald, L.F. (1995). Attitudinal antecedents of rape myth acceptance: A theoretical and empirical reexamination. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 68, 704-711.
Revised Conflict Tactics Scale: In 1996 the CTS was revised to include measures of injury, sexual coercion, and use of negotiation. Additionally wording was revised to increase clarity and more clearly differentiate between minor and severe levels of each scale. The new scale requires a sixth grade reading level and can be used in studying partner violence in high school populations.
In: Straus, M.A., Hamby, S.L., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D.B. (1996). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2): Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 286-316.
Robinson Behavioral Inventory: The Robinson Behavioral Inventory (RBI) is a 34-item measure developed to assess the relationship between attitude and behavior in the area of sex-roles. This measure has been used to evaluate outcome studies which measure reported changes in sex roles.
In: Jaffe, P.G., Suderman, M., Reitzel, D., & Killip, S.M. (1992). An evaluation of a secondary school primary prevention program on violence in intimate relationships. Violence and Victims, 7, 129-146.
S-Z
Sexual Experiences Survey: The Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) is a widely used 14-item instrument used to measure degrees of sexual victimization. Questions are used to assess whether/if victimization occurred as a result of coercion, threats, drugs, authority, or use of force. One example is "Have you ever had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?"
In: Koss, M.P., & Gidycz, C.A. (1985). Sexual Experiences Survey: Reliability and validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 422-423.
Texas Rape Scale: The Texas Rape Scale (TRS) consists of 96 statements (including the 10-item Texas Rape Intensity Scale) designed to measure sexual aggression, rape rationalization, and attitudes towards punishment for rape. Also included is a 15-item knowledge test, and 16 background or demographic questions.
In: Young, R.K. & Thiessen, D. (1992). The Texas Rape Scale. Ethology & Sociobiology, 13,19-33.
updated 12/20/13