Sexual Experiences Survey. Reliability and Validity

Many rape studies use judicial records or crisis center files to recruit research participants. Recent studies, however, have suggested that reported rape rates greatly underestimate the number of rapes that occur each year, that the conviction rate for rape is low, and that few victims utilize rape crisis centers. The Sexual Experiences Survey, a self-report instrument designed to identify hidden rape victims and undetected offenders among a normal population, is an alternate approach to sample selection. In the present study, reliability and validity data for the Sexual Experiences Survey are described.