Making campuses safer: new data collection methods are defining the extent of the sexual assault problem on college campuses.

• Position: RESEARCH NORTH CAROLINA: RTI INTERNATIONAL

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Recent attention from the White House and other prominent sources, including the media, has helped bring attention to the issue of sexual assaults on college campuses. Despite the increased attention, relatively few studies have been conducted that effectively document the magnitude and nature of the problem at a given school and allow for comparisons across schools. In part, this is due to the lack of coordinated efforts or standardization in research designs across schools, and the fact that individual schools may be reluctant or unsure how to go about effectively measuring sexual assault, which is a challenging endeavor methodologically.

RTI International researchers are using state-of-the-art survey methods to collect high-quality data on the prevalence and nature of sexual assault and enable the identification of factors that increase risk for--and the evaluation of intervention designed to prevent--sexual assaults. Scientists such as Drs. Chris Krebs and Christine Lindquist have developed and tested approaches to researching this complex issue, recognizing that schools need valid data to understand the magnitude and nature of the problem, as well as to effectively address it through better-informed policies and practices.

Through the use of proven, scientifically rigorous data collection methods, RTI International researchers aim to supply schools with the data they need to prevent and address sexual assault, making their campuses and students safer.

> Using methodological rigor to validly collect the data universities and colleges need

Building on a groundbreaking study from 2009 that was conducted with a grant from the National Institute of Justice, Krebs and Lindquist co-authored the Campus Climate Survey Validation Study, which was released in January and funded by the Office of Violence Against Women and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The CCSVS was conducted with support from the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault and was designed to gauge campus climates related to sexual assault, with a longer-term goal of helping to inform campus policies and practices.

The RTI team used extensive cognitive testing to develop a confidential, web-based survey that was administered to 23,000 undergraduates (15,000 women and 8,000 men) across nine colleges and universities in the spring of 2015. The survey used behaviorally specific terminology to collect data on sexual assault and student...