Looking for metrics to compare gender/rape norms across settings
February 21, 2016 7:20 AM Subscribe
In what ways could I quantify differences in sexism/gender norms/rape culture across US states, cities, and/or universities using publicly-available data?
I'm looking for creative, quantifiable metrics that I could use to generally characterize different geographic and university settings' climates in terms of gender equity broadly and support of sexual assault perpetration specifically. They can assess aspects of the setting itself (e.g., characteristics of laws, policies, or available resources) or aggregate attitudes of the people in the setting on relevant topics. I need to be able to create these metrics using data that already exists out there in the world.
I'm not sure yet what places I will need to compare, but it's likely to be around 50 and include a combination of cities, universities, and states. I'm looking for ideas for metrics that apply to as many universities/cities/states as possible and are directly comparable across other settings of the same type. Data will only be useful if they apply to most of the other places of the same type in my sample. For example, the cities in my sample need to be characterizable in a way that I can compare most of the cities to each other. So if there's any information that universities/cities/states tend to have publicly available, or data collected at the national level (from the government, from survey firms, whatever) that can be filtered down to specific universities/cities/states, I think that would be ideal. The AAU climate survey would be great because it includes sexual assault prevalence rates across universities, but it only covers 27 universities, so it's not helpful to me.
This shouldn't be anything that would take fees or a FOIA request to get. It would be nice if I could track down all of the info I need relatively quickly and easily.
I'm looking for creative, quantifiable metrics that I could use to generally characterize different geographic and university settings' climates in terms of gender equity broadly and support of sexual assault perpetration specifically. They can assess aspects of the setting itself (e.g., characteristics of laws, policies, or available resources) or aggregate attitudes of the people in the setting on relevant topics. I need to be able to create these metrics using data that already exists out there in the world.
I'm not sure yet what places I will need to compare, but it's likely to be around 50 and include a combination of cities, universities, and states. I'm looking for ideas for metrics that apply to as many universities/cities/states as possible and are directly comparable across other settings of the same type. Data will only be useful if they apply to most of the other places of the same type in my sample. For example, the cities in my sample need to be characterizable in a way that I can compare most of the cities to each other. So if there's any information that universities/cities/states tend to have publicly available, or data collected at the national level (from the government, from survey firms, whatever) that can be filtered down to specific universities/cities/states, I think that would be ideal. The AAU climate survey would be great because it includes sexual assault prevalence rates across universities, but it only covers 27 universities, so it's not helpful to me.
This shouldn't be anything that would take fees or a FOIA request to get. It would be nice if I could track down all of the info I need relatively quickly and easily.
You could also do a multivariate analysis that factors in city size, police force size etc.
You might want to pop into Google scholar becuase it is possible that someone has already done this.
posted by k8t at 7:34 AM on February 21, 2016
You might want to pop into Google scholar becuase it is possible that someone has already done this.
posted by k8t at 7:34 AM on February 21, 2016
Upon a phone Google scholar search of multiple variate determinants sexual assault campus, I found dozens.
posted by k8t at 8:11 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by k8t at 8:11 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: It can't be a multivariate analysis- I'm looking for variables that I can use as moderators in a different multivariate analysis. I could do some latent variable stuff but I'd rather just be able to plug in a single variable as a moderator.
posted by quiet coyote at 8:41 AM on February 21, 2016
posted by quiet coyote at 8:41 AM on February 21, 2016
In terms of the legal setting, perhaps laws governing admissible evidence in rape / sexual assault cases could be relevant? I believe different states have different rules on the use of character evidence in rape and sexual assault cases, and these rape shield laws could be useful evidence for local attitudes to gender / local support for victims of gender-based violence.
posted by Aravis76 at 9:38 AM on February 21, 2016
posted by Aravis76 at 9:38 AM on February 21, 2016
For Australia, you can find comparative data about university gender equity in Workplace Gender Equality Reports. It's a horrible interface, but if you type "University" in the "legal name" search box, you'll get pretty much all the universities. Unfortunately the reports are all pdf format, but there's interesting tables inside them, and you might be able to find some metrics that you can get hold of data for overseas too.
posted by lollusc at 7:47 PM on February 21, 2016
posted by lollusc at 7:47 PM on February 21, 2016
BJS. Data.gov. SAFER. NSVRC. NIJ. OPE. VAVnet. JRSA. RAND. Also you might want to look at variables like ratio of men to women, race/ethnicity, education levels, religious affiliation, or availability of alcohol (# of bars, participation in greek life, alcohol consumption).
posted by oceano at 10:30 PM on February 21, 2016
posted by oceano at 10:30 PM on February 21, 2016
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You could also look for resources such as rape victims advocates and such which should apply to all cities but don't.
Policies are good and policy comparisons across universities would be pretty publicly availible.
It may be worth creating a spreadsheet with city name as x and supports as y and check of the supports that each city has. No city is going to have all supports. And then compare that way.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:33 AM on February 21, 2016