The Rutgers University Survey

The National Public Radio (NPR) segment about the sexual assault data may have certain biases in their piece. The Rutgers University survey looks at a broad view of what they consider sexual assault consisting of actual contact as well as comments made in the direction of the targets. The statistical analysis of the survey from Rutgers also seems to be less than accurate for the entire student population due to roughly “30 percent” of the students completing the survey, and in their words “leading some to question its reliability.” The accuracy of these statistics for one university allows one to question the validity of the survey, and the survey responses. The sample group of the survey respondents may have a larger part in the actual survey numbers being skewed in one direction. The NPR piece does say the likelihood of the respondents could have some type of personal connection to the assaults. The size of the sample group does seem to allow the entire population or parameter to answer the survey. The problem seems to be that if it is not mandatory, it is less likely to be answered by the parameter or if it is mandatory, the results may not have genuine answers due to students wanting to just complete it.

In the NPR piece, UK presents the data “just 5 percent of the students said they were victims.” The total sample in this example is the entire student body, due to the survey being mandatory. The sample is particularly looking for the statistics that show whether the school is a “safe” school or not. The 5 percent shows that overall UK is a relatively safe school. The climate survey for Rutgers could be a different population because of the likelihood of the survey being taken by a smaller sample size, and the potential for victims to complete the survey, while non-victims bypassing it all