Survey Methods

Survey methods, which are used often in research on sexual assault, lose the participant’s voice to define her own experience. When conducting survey research, the researcher decides how victimization will be opera­tionally defined. Only sexual assault experiences as defined by the re­searcher are examined (Muehlenhard et al., 1992). Moreover, the data obtained are limited by the researcher’s questions. Survey questions define the boundaries for the results that will be found and reported. Surveys decontextualize sexually assaultive behavior (White & Farmer, 1992) and give little attention to the specific circumstances under which the assault occurs. Open-ended questions, less common in the acquaintance rape lit­erature, would permit responses unanticipated by the researcher (Burt & Albin, 1981), which would enrich our understanding of coercive sexual activity, and would allow women’s voices to be heard.