Adaptation and Evaluation of a Video Game to Reduce Sexual Violence on Campus, New Hampshire, 2016 (ICPSR 37101)
Version Date: Jun 26, 2025 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Sharyn J. Potter, University of New Hampshire. Prevention Innovations Research Center
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37101.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
Sexual assault is the most common violent crime committed on college campuses today. One in five women have experienced a completed or attempted sexual assault as an undergraduate. In one study, 28% of first-year college women experienced unwanted sexual contact and 7% experienced sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in the first semester of their first year of college, while 7% of college men reported an attempted or completed assault during their college experience. Growing evidence suggests the effectiveness of using online tools and video games for public health intervention and education.
Because of the positive impact of these digital strategies, researchers saw a need to bring this research to sexual violence prevention, where there has been limited use of digital applications. The goal of this project was to design and evaluate the pedagogical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a video game to reduce sexual and relationship violence. It was hypothesized that the video game could enhance the self-confidence of male and female late adolescents (ages 18-24) to practice safe, appropriate, and effective approaches for intervening in situations where sexual and/or relationship violence (including stalking) is occurring, has the potential to occur, or recently occurred.
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Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this research was to design and evaluate the pedagogical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a video game to reduce sexual and relationship violence.
Study Design View help for Study Design
This project took place in four distinct phases. During Phase I, two game prototypes (an adventure game and a multiplayer trivia game to act as a precursor to the adventure game) were designed through an ongoing collaboration between a workgroup of nine students at a mid-sized public university in New England (the project's home institution) and video game developers in a lab located at a nearby private college. Student workgroup members varied in ethnicity, gender, and fields of study and were recruited via campus flyers that advertised a paid, yearlong opportunity to participate in a project to create a socially impactful video game. Following the creation of the trivia game prototype, it was evaluated via four focus group sessions with students who were unfamiliar with the project and attended a public university in New England that is much smaller than the project's home institution. These vetting sessions had an average of 6 participants in each session.
During Phase II, researchers conducted a total of 13 focus groups with 120 students (approximately 9 students per group) at the project's home institution, a mid-sized, public university in New England. Researchers then administered the first five focus groups to assess students' reactions to the trivia game prototype, and the remaining eight focus groups were administered to evaluate and improve the adventure game prototype. Participants were recruited via flyers posted throughout campus and a $15 gift card for a choice of several national retail companies was offered as a participation incentive. Only students who were unaffiliated with the project and the initial workgroup were eligible to participate in the focus groups.
During Phase III (fall 2016), 305 first-year students at the project's home institution participated in 20 game testing sessions (approximately 15 people per session) in a pilot study to test both prototypes. All participants were at least 18 years of age, with 91% of participants being 18 years of age and 9% between 19 and 21 years old. Fifty percent of participants identified as female, 49% identified as male, and 1% identified as a non-binary gender. Most participants identified as white (89%), and 6.4% identified as Hispanic. Ninety-seven percent of students lived on campus. Students who participated in focus groups during Phase II and those who were members of the student workgroup in Phase I were ineligible to participate in the testing sessions as these sessions were only open to incoming first year students at the institution.
During Phase IV (fall 2017), researchers tested revised versions of the game prototypes at both a public and a private institution in New England. The public university was the project's home institution, while the private college was the home of the video game development lab with which researchers collaborated. Fourteen pilot study testing sessions were administered with 215 students at the public university, with an average of 13 participants per session. All public university participants lived on campus and were at least 18 years of age, with approximately 80% of participants being 18 years old. Approximately 49% of participants identified as female, 51% identified as male, and less than 1% of participants identified as a non-binary gender. Four pilot study sessions were administered with 88 students at the private institution, with an average of 22 participants per session. All private college participants were at least 18 years of age, with the vast majority being between 18 and 19 years old (59.1% = 18 years old; 31.8% = 19 years old; 9.1% = 20 years old or older). Approximately 44% of participants identified as female, 52% identified as male, and 3% identified as a non-binary gender. Eighty-five percent of participants lived on campus. All participants at both institutions agreed to be re-contacted at a later date. Upon re-contact via email, 68% of participants completed a follow-up survey. Any student who participated in previous phases of this project was ineligible to participate in Phase IV testing sessions.
Sample View help for Sample
For the sampling, approximately 738 undergraduate participants were involved in various aspects of the game testing, including providing focus group feedback and participating in a pilot study consisting of a pretest, posttest, and follow-up survey.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Undergraduate students who were aged 18 years or older from colleges in New England.
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Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
This study is for restricted release with a total of 1356 variables. The study included several unique IDs: ID, PRE.PARTICIPANTID, POST.PARTICIPANTID, MID.PARTICIPANTID, and FOLLOWUP.PARTICIPANTID.
The study asked the respondents if they were victims of sexual violence, if they were the perpetrators of sexual abuse, their emotional state and alcohol consumption.
The dataset also included additional demographic variables such as; age, gender, race, ethnicity, school type and college major of the participants.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
68% of participants in the previous surveys completed a follow-up survey.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2025-06-26
Version History View help for Version History
2025-06-26 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:
- 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.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.