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Behind the Pencil/Paper Measurement of Sexual Coercion: Interview‐Based Clarification of Men's Interpretations of Sexual Experiences Survey Items 1
Author(s) -
Ross Ronald R.,
Allgeier Elizabeth Rice
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb00087.x
Subject(s) - sexual coercion , psychology , coercion (linguistics) , social psychology , sexual behavior , survey research , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , human factors and ergonomics , applied psychology , poison control , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , environmental health
The ubiquity of self‐report pencil and paper surveys in sexual coercion research is matched only by the lack of attention to respondents' individual interpretations of survey items. Our purpose in this study was to examine men's interpretations of four apparently ambiguous items from a commonly used sexual coercion research instrument, the original Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss & Oros, 1982). After completing the SES, college men (N = 102) were immediately interviewed about their interpretations of 4 of the SES items. Across the interviews, the men reported a variety of interpretations of each item. Ignoring SES item interpretations when forming research conclusions has significant implications for sexual coercion research. Based on the results of this investigation, we urge caution in interpreting results of studies based on self‐administered measures of coercive sexual behavior.