Study of Dating Violence in College Relationships and the Effect of Question Wording on Survey Responses

Abstract

The prevalence and causes of intimate partner violence have been discussed for years,and conclusions vary greatly often because the findings are contradictory. Through the use of online survey methods, this research studied Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)among college students. More specifically, how the question wording of a survey affects conclusions, and how an examination of the situational context of a reported IPV event might add important information (i.e. whether the incident took place in a joking/humorous context, during an aggressive argument, or in self-defense). The research attempted to answer two distinct questions: 1) How does question wording affect how respondents answer questions? and 2) What percentage of dating violence incidents occur in a situation that is not harmful or aggressive? The survey instrument is a revised Conflict Tactics Scale (developed by Murray Straus) with three versions, each of which differed slightly in the wording of certain questions about the occurrence of violence in the relationship. The survey was administered to 132 college students at Texas A