University of Oregon psychology professor Jennifer Freyd this week defended a survey from the Association of American Universities purporting to show that between 1-in-4 and 1-in-5 women have been sexually assaulted in college. Freyd discounted criticism of the study, suggesting critics aren’t objective (as if surveyors like her are) and that they pulled their criticism out of nowhere.
“[M]any critics, seemingly unwilling to believe that sexual assault can be so widespread, raise only questions that suggest an overestimate of the rate of campus sexual violence,” Freyd writes at the Huffington Post. “That is understandable as an advocacy tactic. But they would be more believable if there is some basis for the criticisms that are made.”
Actually, there is “some basis” for the criticism. It comes from, of all places, the survey itself. On its fifth page, the researchers state: “An analysis of the possibility the estimates were affected by non-response bias found that certain types of estimates may be too high because non-victims may have been less likely to participate.” (Emphasis added.)
The researchers go on to say the “1 in 5” statistic found in other surveys — including in a couple of surveys from Freyd — is “not representative of anything outside” of those particular surveys.
In her HuffPo piece, Freyd suggests that there are better studies out there for determining the rate of sexual assault on college campuses. Surprise, surprise, she suggests a study she helped create and administer, which suffers from the same problems typical of this topic.
