Introduction
Sexual violence, in any of its forms, is a complicated subject that requires in-depth investigation. One of the complications is the topic’s sensitivity and bias, making it difficult for researchers to obtain information. As a result, a methodology for operations in this field must be developed so that the study can be as effective and objective as feasible while adhering to ethical norms. Sexual abuse is difficult to discuss since it is not well understood. There are numerous efforts underway to combat sexual assault in its broadest sense. However, there is no uniform definition of what constitutes a sexual act, just as there is no universal definition of sexual aggression. Sexual assault laws, procedures, or policies at the national or international level do not define or provide direction on what survivors may consider a sexual act or an act of sexual assault.
The research question will investigate what specifically stands for sexual abuse and what should be considered sexual violence. The hypothesis is that the concept of sexual violence might be perceived and understood differently according to different experiences and backgrounds. In order to combat sexual assault and improve the prosecution of the act, specific moral and ethical norms should be considered, and several opinions and suggestions should be analyzed. In order to conduct the research, several design approaches, such as survey, pretest-posttest control group design, phenomenology, and parallel design, may be implemented.
Survey Research
Sexual assault encompasses a wide spectrum of victimizations, including rape and other forms of unwanted sexual contact. Krebs et al. (2007) conducted the Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study to document the prevalence of different types of sexual assault among university women, as well as the context, consequences, and reporting of different types of sexual assault among a large sample of undergraduate women from two large universities. The CSA Study’s typology for sexual assault classification is based on how the assault or attempted assault was carried out.
The CSA Study considers physically forced sexual assault a separate category of assault. In the CSA Study, Krebs et al. (2007) define incapacitated sexual assault as any unwanted sexual contact that occurs when a victim cannot provide consent or stop what is happening. The CSA Survey was conducted on 5,446 undergraduate women and 1,375 undergraduate males. The data and outcomes reported in this overview exclusively represent women because the male component of the study was exploratory.
Pretest-Posttest Control Group Designed Research
Lenihan et al. (1992) performed a study primarily based totally on a pretest-posttest manage organization design. The study incorporates statistics approximately approaches wherein females and males are laid low with rape, nearby and countrywide records of rape with emphasis on date rape. Lenihan et al. (1992) provide definitions of sexual attack within the country and diverse varieties of rape, motives why sufferers and offenders no longer pick out compelled intercourse as rape, and cultural motives for date rape. Moreover, the study describes traits and attitudes of offenders, outcomes of victimization together with a sufferer of date rape, explaining the impact on her, prevention guidelines, and nearby reasserts of help. Lenihan et al. (1992) assessed college students attitudes towards rape and rape mythology and measured the effect on those attitudes following publicity to acquaintance rape training programs. Findings from 821 college students found out that females with ease modified rape supportive attitudes, while males had been resistant so far rape training program.
Phenomenology
The study of experience’s essence and structure is known as phenomenology. Abuya et al. (2012) used this approach to investigate how complex meanings are constructed from simple units of direct experience; in this case, poor urban girls in the two schools make sense of their SHV experiences in and out of school. This technique included epoche or recollections of the lead researcher’s experience of the phenomenon as a little girl in Kenya. One can have a clear mind and isolate extraneous events that might impact the interpretation of the girls’ experiences by using epoche, which begins with documenting one’s own experience. Before beginning the phenomenological investigation, this essentially means not passing judgment on the natural world of the girls’ experiences. As a result, the analyses’ conclusion would be the girls’ experiences with sexual harassment.
Parallel
In a convergent parallel mixed-method study, Holland et al. (2021) investigated the causes and implications of depreciation as a service barrier. The appearance and impact of minimizing survivors’ lives were investigated using qualitative interviews. Quantitative surveys were used to see if minimizing differed based on four formal supports and survivor characteristics and the links between minimization and mental health outcomes. The results revealed links between the social and institutional discourse on sexual assault and minimizing.
Comparison and Assessment of the Research Designs
Applying a survey research design to the study could be useful for designing the research that aims to identify what should be considered a sexual assault. As the study by Krebs et al. (2007) shows, different people experience various types of sexual abuse. Different experiences arise due to the diversity of cases, specificity of circumstances, and many other factors. That is why collecting a survey that would help gather as many possible variations of cases is useful to ensure that more possible forms of sexual abuse are documented. Pretest-Posttest Control Group Designed Research might be useful when testing the effectiveness of a particular educational training to raise the awareness of what sexual assault is. For example, through the pretest-posttest research design, the effect of the sexual education training could be assessed. This research design is useful because it may contribute to practicality research.
The narratives of girls’ experiences with sexual harassment in and out of school were described using a phenomenological approach in a study conducted by Abuya et al. (2012). Implementing a phenomenology design approach to the study is highly relevant when investigating what may be recorded as sexual harassment. This research design allows analyzing each case of sexual harassment individually and has more insights into what makes the act sexually violent. Conducting parallel design research might be useful to see the differences between the attitude towards what is considered sexual harassment. Because people have different perceptions of what might be assumed as sexual abuse, the parallel research design might be applied to see how randomly categorized groups of people will interpret different instances of sexual violence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, all the mentioned research designs might be useful when conducting the research. However, in the research that aims to investigate what should be considered as a sexual assault, the survey research design is the most useful. Because such a design allows gathering opinions and views of many people, it would be the most efficient way to collect the data needed for the research. The survey could be conducted among those who had experienced sexual harassment in any form and those who have never faced sexual harassment. The collected data might be analyzed and contribute to identifying which factors influence different people’s perceptions on what should be recognized as an act of sexual abuse. In addition, the most popular answers could be grouped and presented.
References
Abuya, B. A., Onsomu, E. O., Moore, D., & Sagwe, J. (2012). A phenomenological study of sexual harassment and violence among girls attending high schools in urban slums, Nairobi, Kenya. Journal of School Violence, 11(4), 323-344. Web.
Holland, K. J., Cipriano, A. E., Huit, T. Z., Volk, S. A., Meyer, C. L., Waitr, E., & Wiener, E. R. (2021). “Serious enough”? A mixed-method examination of the minimization of sexual assault as a service barrier for college sexual assault survivors. Psychology of violence. Web.
Krebs, C., Lindquist, C., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2007). The campus sexual assault (CSA) study. Web.
Lenihan, G. O. (1992). Gender differences in rape supportive attitudes before and after a date rape education intervention. Journal of College Student Development, 33(4), 331-38. Web.