Gender framing effects in victim surveys

Abstract

Crime victimization surveys are important sources of trend information and provide data for basic criminological research. In recent years, victim surveys have proliferated and their strengths are well known. The aim of this study is to increase the methodological literature on victim surveys by analysing framing effects, defined as the way the survey instrument communicates its topic and aim, especially in terms of the gendered nature of violence. Three experimental frames were applied to independent, random samples of the adult Finnish population: male-to-male violence frame, female-to-male violence frame, and male-to-female violence frame. The impacts of these frames were analysed in relation to two outcome variables: self-assessed propensity to report hypothetical borderline incidents in a victim survey and reporting of prior personal violent victimization. Thus, we utilized measures of both intended survey reporting behaviour and real survey reporting behaviour. The findings indicate that the male-to-female violence frame increases the willingness of the respondents to report borderline cases to survey researchers, regardless of other factors. It also increases the prevalence of reported prior victimizations. The female-tomale frame has a similar but weaker framing effect. The findings are discussed from the point of view of the 'conversation' paradigm of survey methods research.

Experimental research in Nordic criminology

“…The method has been used by Nordics in intervention evaluation (Balvig & Holmberg 2011;Kjaer Minke 2011) and methodological analysis (Kivivuori et al 2013). Designs comparing independent random samples, which is admittedly not the same as randomisation, have been used to study the effects of researcher-controlled stimuli related to punitivity research (Jerre & Tham 2010) and methods development (Kivivuori et al 2012). …”

Prevalence of sexual violence: A comparison of estimates from UK national surveys

“…First, surveys focused on the topics of crime and security may appeal to different types of people than surveys focused on issues relating to health, thus affecting the composition of the two samples. Second, the choice of framing – ‘defined as the way the survey instrument communicates its topic and aim’ (Kivivouri et al, 2012) – may influence how people respond to particular questions: people recruited into crime surveys are more likely to interpret all questions in relation to criminal activity, even if the question itself does not make explicit reference to crime. Considering both influences, Kivivouri et al (2012) demonstrate the importance of gender framing in victim surveys.…”

“…Second, the choice of framing – ‘defined as the way the survey instrument communicates its topic and aim’ (Kivivouri et al, 2012) – may influence how people respond to particular questions: people recruited into crime surveys are more likely to interpret all questions in relation to criminal activity, even if the question itself does not make explicit reference to crime. Considering both influences, Kivivouri et al (2012) demonstrate the importance of gender framing in victim surveys. Comparing self-reported victimization estimates when the survey was framed around male-to-male violence, female-to-male violence and male-to-female violence, they find that the male-to-female violence frame invokes both the highest response rate and the highest reporting rate among women.…”

Collective efficacy and violent crime in suburban housing estates

“…However, the bulk of the studies have been carried out in the US and there is a lack of research that uses police-recorded crime as a measure of criminality, because many studies resort to either survey-based measures of crime and disorder or use extreme forms of aggression such as homicides as a measure of neighbourhood violence. Although there are well-known shortcomings in police-recorded crime data, survey-based measures also suffer from inaccuracy owing to, for example, unequal non-response and frame effects (Hart et al, 2005;Kivivuori et al, 2012;Laaksonen and Heiskanen, 2014). Sampson and Groves (1989) employed a survey-based study utilizing data from the British Crime Survey, using local friendship networks, organizational participation and youth supervision as predictors of violent crime victimization, and found that communities characterized by sparse friendship networks, unsupervised teenage peer groups and low organizational participation had disproportionately high rates of crime and delinquency.…”