Adjusting the National Crime Victimization Survey's Estimates of Rape and Domestic Violence for Gag Factors, 1986-1990 (ICPSR 6558)
Version Date: Oct 1, 1996 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Ann L. Coker, University of South Carolina, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics;
Elizabeth A. Stasny, Ohio State University, Department of Statistics
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06558.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The purpose of this project was to use statistical modeling techniques to estimate rape and domestic assault rates, adjusting for interviewing conditions under which the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was administered. Data for women 16 years of age and older interviewed in the NCVS (see NATIONAL CRIME SURVEYS: NATIONAL SAMPLE, 1986-1990 [NEAR-TERM DATA] [ICPSR 8864]) were analyzed. The researchers considered whether the type of interview (personal or telephone) and the presence of another person (particularly a spouse) influenced or "gagged" the reporting of rape and domestic violence in the NCVS. The researchers also investigated correlates, primarily demographic in nature, of reporting rape, domestic violence, other assaults, and breaking and entry. In total, the data file contains reports of 434 rapes, 1,973 incidents of domestic violence, 13,459 other assaults, and 88,950 incidents of breaking and entry. The binary-coded variables provide information on whether the respondent was alone during the interview, others who were present, whether the interview was by telephone, whether the respondent refused a telephone interview, the number of persons who lived in the household, whether the respondent owned her home, whether the land use was urban, whether the household the respondent was living in was the same household from the last interview, whether the respondent had moved more than three times in the last five years, and whether an assault, domestic violence incident, rape, breaking and entry, or no crime was reported. Demographic information includes the respondent's education, income, employment during the last six months, marital status at the time of the interview, and whether the respondent was white (or non-white) or Hispanic (or non-Hispanic). Variables coded the same as the NCVS variables include age, respondent's relationship to the offender, type of crime, year and quarter of interview, NCVS control number, and person weight.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
HideTime Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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The objective of the National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS) is to provide data on the level of crime victimization in the United States and to collect data on the characteristics of crime incidents and victims. The National Crime Victimization Surveys data are organized by year, with six collection quarters comprising an annual file: the four quarters of the current year plus the first two quarters of the following year. Each respondent was asked a series of screen questions to determine if he or she was victimized during the six-month period preceding the first day of the month of the interview. Users of the data for this collection may want to refer to the NCVS codebook for sampling and methodological information.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The specific objectives of this project were to (1) identify factors associated with reporting rape or domestic violence, (2) identify factors associated with conditions of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) interview (i.e., telephone or personal interview and who was present during the personal interview), and (3) to use statistical modeling techniques to estimate the annual incidence rates of rape and domestic violence, adjusting for these factors.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Data for women 16 years of age and older interviewed in the NATIONAL CRIME SURVEYS: NATIONAL SAMPLE, 1986-1990 [NEAR-TERM DATA] (ICPSR 8864) were analyzed. The researchers considered whether the type of interview (personal or telephone) and the presence of another (particularly a spouse) influenced or "gagged" the reporting of rape and domestic violence in the NCVS. Data were selected from the NCVS to examine the issues described above. Both the NCVS telephone and personal interviews are conducted such that the respondent must tell the interviewer about the nature of the victimization in her own words without answering yes/no questions. It is hypothesized that the inclusion of such yes/no questions would more easily allow victims to report rape or domestic violence incidents in telephone interviews, even with spouses present in the home during the interview. Therefore, data covering who was present during the interview were of particular interest. The researchers also investigated correlates, primarily demographic in nature, of reporting rape, domestic violence, other assaults, and breaking and entry. In total, the data file contains reports of 434 rapes, 1,973 incidents of domestic violence, 13,459 other assaults, and 88,950 incidents of breaking and entry.
Sample View help for Sample
Data selected from the NCVS hierarchical file included only women 16 years of age or older. Proxy interviews were excluded.
Universe View help for Universe
Women in the United States.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
NATIONAL CRIME SURVEYS: NATIONAL SAMPLE, 1986-1990 [NEAR-TERM DATA] (ICPSR 8864)
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The binary-coded variables provide information on whether the respondent was alone during the interview, others who were present (e.g., a spouse, children under 12 years of age, children over 12 years of age, more than four household members over the age of 12, a nonhousehold person, someone present but relationship to the respondent unknown, or presence of someone else unknown), whether the interview was by telephone, whether the respondent refused a telephone interview, the number of persons who lived in the household, whether the respondent owned her home, whether the land use was urban, whether the household the respondent was living in was the same from the last interview, whether the respondent had moved more than three times in the last five years, and whether an assault, domestic violence incident, rape, breaking and entry, or no crime was reported. Demographic information included whether the respondent had 12 years of education or more, had an income less than $15,000, had no job in the last six months, was married at the time of the interview, and whether the respondent was white (or non-white) or Hispanic (or non-Hispanic). Variables coded the same as the NCVS variables include age, respondent's relationship to the offender, type of crime, year of interview, year and quarter of interview, NCVS control number, and person weight.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1996-10-01
Version History View help for Version History
- Coker, Ann L., and Elizabeth A. Stasny. ADJUSTING THE NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY'S ESTIMATES OF RAPE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FOR "GAG" FACTORS, 1986-1990. ICPSR version. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics [producer], 1995. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1996. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06558.v1
1996-10-01 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Standardized missing values.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.