Critiquing Research Methods and Outcomes on Campus Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response: An Intersectional Perspective

Background: Sexual misconduct - a term broadly inclusive of sexual, domestic, and stalking violence - is a pervasive social problem that disproportionally affects individuals aged 18-24, including students enrolled in institutions of higher education (IHEs). Although students from marginalized groups have greater risk, the majority of research on prevention and intervention efforts conceptualize campus sexual misconduct as a problem experienced by cisgender straight undergraduate white women who live on campus. Aims: This roundtable is focused on accomplishing the following objectives: a) Critiquing current social work research efforts on campus sexual misconduct from an intersectional perspective b) examining the extent to which this research includes participants that represent a diverse range of social identities and positionalities, and c) analyzing how the goals and objectives of this research align with the experiences and perceptions of minority student populations. Content: The panel is composed of social work researchers with extensive campus-based sexual violence research experience on diverse campus settings. Presenters will discuss the challenges and successes they have each experienced with conducting research on campus sexual misconduct from an intersectional perspective. Specifically, presenters will highlight the challenges that come with designing and implementing campus sexual misconduct research focused on underrepresented student communities (e.g., male victims, members of the LGBTQ+ community, students of color, and graduate students). This will include discussing efforts to recruit students with diverse identities and backgrounds as participants or research assistants. The presenters will share strategies to increase the intersectional methodology of campus climate research from the project conception phase onward. Within this topic, the presenters will brainstorm ways to include diverse scholarly perspectives as well. For example, how can sexual misconduct researchers engage in scholarship that involves working with paradigms, research methods, and ways of interpreting the data that challenge the status quo on this body of research? As well, the presenters will speak about how to interpret research findings that focus on marginalized student groups in a culturally relevant manner. The presenters will also pinpoint specific strategies sexual misconduct researchers can use to infuse an intersectional framework into their research agendas.