ARC3 Survey


The ARC3 Survey is a campus climate survey developed to assess perpetration and victimization of sexual misconduct on college campuses in the United States. In addition to measuring rates of sexual assault on campus, the survey also gathers data on those who are engaging in sexual assault. It was developed by a group of sexual assault researchers and student affairs professionals in response to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. The survey is free for college campuses to use. The study has been used to assess both graduate and undergraduate students.

Background

College sexual assault is common. Estimates of the number of women assaulted on college campuses have shown that some 15 to 20 percent of college women report rape or attempted rape during their college career, and that over 50 percent report experiencing some form of unwanted sexual contact. Not only are survivors of sexual violence at an increased risk for anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and various other physical health problems, but they are also at risk of poorer academic performance. Additionally, according to the AAUP Report on Sexual Assault, other academic consequences of sexual assault include: significant declines in academic achievement; impaired ability to carry a normal course load; increased frequency of missing classes; reduced capacity to contribute to the campus community; and an increased likelihood of dropping courses, leaving school, or transferring.
Students in the United States may apply Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in order to successfully sue universities for "indifference to known situations of harassment." In addition, Title IX is used to support initiatives to prevent sexual assault on college campuses in the United States. Because of various federal investigations, many universities turned to surveys and apps that were often expensive, spending "six figures on a product that promised to address the problem."

White House Initiative "It's on Us"

With the increase of attention on college sexual misconduct, the White House presented on September 19, 2014 the launch of the "It's on Us" Campaign. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden introduced the campaign by describing the importance of ending sexual assault on college campuses. The "It's on Us" Campaign is leading a pledge to "not be a bystander to the problem , but to be a part of the solution." The campaign emphasizes the idea that everyone is responsible for taking a stand in ending sexual violence.
The ARC3 Survey was developed in response to the White House initiative in hopes to better evaluate data about sexual misconduct on college campuses.
The ARC3 survey was also created in order to ensure that there was no profit motive behind the campus surveys, many of which have been very expensive for colleges to purchase and implement. Jennifer Freyd, a researcher at the University of Oregon, has been instrumental in spear-heading the ARC3 survey initiative.

Collaborators

This survey is the result of ongoing efforts by student and legal affairs professionals, campus advocates, students, campus law enforcement, and sexual assault and harassment researchers, groups of whom met in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2014 for the Georgia State University Forum on Campus Sexual Assault and in February 2015 in Madison, Wisconsin for the Madison Summit on Campus Climate and Sexual Misconduct. The collaborators who collectively designed the survey and their titles and institutions are listed below:
CollaboratorTitleInstitution
Antonia AbbeyProfessor of PsychologyWayne State University
Noël Busch-ArmendarizProfessor of Social Work, and director, Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual AssaultUniversity of Texas at Austin
Jacquelyn CampbellProfessor of NursingJohns Hopkins University
Brett CarterDean of StudentsUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro
Gretchen ClumAssociate Professor of Public HealthTulane University
Sarah CookProfessor of Psychology and Associate Dean, Honors CollegeGeorgia State University
Amalia Corby-EdwardsSenior Legislative and Federal Affairs OfficerAmerican Psychological Association
Lilia CortinaAssociate Professor of Psychology and Women's StudiesUniversity of Michigan
Karol DeanDean, School of Social and Behavioral SciencesMercy College
Louise DouceSpecial Assistant to Vice President of Student LifeOhio State University
Louise FitzgeraldEmerita Professor of Psychology and Gender & Women's StudiesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bill FlackAssociate Professor of PsychologyBucknell University
Jennifer FreydProfessor of PsychologyUniversity of Oregon
Jaray GillespieAssistant Dean of StudentsGeorgia State University
Anne HedgepethGovernment Relations ManagerAmerican Association of University Women
Kathryn HollandDoctoral Candidate in Psychology and Women's StudiesUniversity of Michigan
Janet HydeProfessor of Psychology and Gender & Women's StudiesUniversity of Wisconsin
Mary P. KossRegents' Professor of Public HealthUniversity of Arizona
Felicia McGintyVice Chancellor for Student AffairsRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Meredith SmithLead Title IX Investigator & Deputy Title IX CoordinatorUniversity of Connecticut
Kate StoverEducational ProgrammerTitle IX Compliance Institute
Kevin SwartoutAssistant Professor of PsychologyGeorgia State University
Jacquelyn WhiteEmerita Professor of PsychologyUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro

Guiding principles

According to the ARC3 Survey website hosted by Georgia State University the ARC3 Survey was created with the following principles in mind:

  • Inclusiveness, mutual respect, and collaboration
  • * Where the voices of researchers, college and university administrators, and students will all be heard.
  • Engaging in an iterative and transparent drafting process
  • *The authors invite and encourage peer review and revision of the survey.
  • *Administrators should give support, feedback and consultation to researchers so that the survey will be as useful and relevant as possible.
  • *Scientists in turn should consider the feedback in developing a survey that meets institutional needs.
  • Ensuring independence and integrity in research
  • *Guided by the ethics of science and recognizing and taking steps to remove the influence of bias.
  • *A commitment to use of the best scientific evidence as the foundation of the survey.
  • *There is a scientific knowledge base and a transparent scientific process must guide this work if the research is to have integrity and accuracy.
  • *Peer reviewed studies are the basis for determining survey content.
  • Equal focus on surveying victimization and perpetration
  • *Meaningful prevention rests on identifying the reasons sexual misconduct is perpetrated and the environments that foster it. Data that are focused on both victimization and perpetration creates a scientific foundation for administrative work.
  • The adoption of a civil rights approach grounded in Title IX
  • *Our work focuses on the range of acts that constitute student on student incidents an institution must respond to and process under guidelines of Title IX, the Violence Against Women Act, the Clery Law and other applicable local, state, and federal law and guidelines.
  • Framing our efforts with the principles of The Belmont Report
  • *Respect for persons: Ensure that students are informed and participate voluntarily.
  • *Beneficence: Participation in a campus climate survey is an educational opportunity and an intervention.
  • Justice
  • *As stated in the Belmont report, address “Who ought to receive the benefits of research and bear its burdens?”
  • A sensitivity to the unique issues faced by various diverse populations and higher education institutional types
  • *Addressing the intersectionality of identities and the multiple contextual factors affecting risk.

Survey components

The ARC3 Survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and has a module-based structure which makes it flexible to campus needs and legislative mandates moving forward, while maintaining validity of measurement. The following is a list of module topics obtained from the ARC3 Website:

ModuleTopic
1POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
2ALCOHOL USE
3PEER NORMS
4PERCEPTIONS OF CAMPUS CLIMATE REGARDING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
5SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY FACULTY/STAFF
6SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY STUDENTS
7STALKING VICTIMIZATION
8STALKING PERPETRATION
9DATING VIOLENCE VICTIMIZATION
10DATING VIOLENCE PERPETRATION
11SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIMIZATION
12SEXUAL VIOLENCE PERPETRATION
13INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES
14PEER RESPONSES
15CONSENT
16BYSTANDER INTERVENTION
17CAMPUS SAFETY
18DEMOGRAPHICS
19ADDITIONAL INFORMATION