Using Mixed Methods to Evaluate a Community Intervention for Sexual Assault Survivors: A Methodological Tale

• NCJ Number: 234247
• Author(s): Deborah Bybee, Rebecca Campbell, Debra Patterson
• Date Published: March 2011
• Length: 13 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: A Systems Change Analysis of SANE Programs

Annotation

This article examines mixed methods to evaluate community intervention in sexual assault cases.

Abstract

This article reviews current epistemological and design issues in the mixed methods literature and then examines the application of one specific design, a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, in an evaluation of a community-based intervention to improve postassault care for sexual assault survivors. Guided by a pragmatist epistemological framework, this study collected quantitative and qualitative data to understand how the implementation of a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program affected prosecution rates of adult sexual assault cases in a large midwestern community. Quantitative results indicated that the program was successful in affecting legal systems change and the qualitative data revealed the mediating mechanisms of the intervention’s effectiveness. Challenges of implementing this design are discussed, including epistemological and practical difficulties that developed from blending methodologies into a single project. (Published Abstract)