Reported prevalence rates of sexual violence range widely in the literature, even in the same sample when using two different questionnaires of the same construct. These discrepancies are concerning as they indicate we may be underestimating the rate of sexual violence and, therefore, resources and treatment for victims. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate two mechanisms that may contribute to differences in reported prevalence rates across the literature and discrepancies within studies: the tactic-first and item-order hypotheses. Participants were 265 MTurk workers whom all completed the Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scale (PRSPS), then were randomly assigned to one of two versions of a tactic-first Sexual Experiences Survey (T-SES). Experimental conditions varied in the item order of the T-SES, one condition received the traditional hierarchical item order (n = 130) while the other received a randomized item order (n = 135). Our results suggest strong support for the tactic-first hypothesis; victimization prevalence rates on the T-SES were double compared to the traditional SES (54.1 vs. 19.8%) in prior research. Further, in both conditions, victimization prevalence rates were statistically equivalent between the PRSPS (62.6%) and the tactic-first SESs (56.2 and 54.1%), χ²(1) < 2.5, p ≈ .1–.7, contrary to prior research. We did not find support for the item-order hypothesis; there were few differences between item-order conditions. Our findings indicate that unintentional underreporting remains a threat to validity in sexual violence assessment, and continued research into the mechanisms of measurement is warranted.

文献中报告的性暴力流行率范围很广，即使在使用相同结构的两个不同调查问卷时也是如此。这些差异令人担忧，因为它们表明我们可能低估了性暴力的发生率，因此也低估了受害者的资源和治疗。因此，当前的研究旨在调查可能导致文献中报告的患病率差异和研究中的差异的两种机制：策略优先假设和项目顺序假设。参与者是 265 名 MTurk 工人，他们都完成了拒绝后性坚持量表 (PRSPS)，然后被随机分配到策略优先性体验调查 (T-SES) 的两个版本之一。实验条件因 T-SES 的项目顺序而异，n  = 130) 而另一个收到随机项目订单 ( n  = 135)。我们的结果表明对战术优先假设的强烈支持；在先前的研究中，T-SES 的受害流行率是传统 SES 的两倍（54.1 对 19.8%）。此外，在这两种情况下，PRSPS (62.6%) 和战术优先 SESs (56.2 和 54.1%) 之间的受害流行率在统计上是相等的，χ ² (1) < 2.5，p ≈ .1-.7，与先前的研究相反。我们没有找到对项目顺序假设的支持；项目订单条件之间几乎没有差异。我们的研究结果表明，无意的漏报仍然对性暴力评估的有效性构成威胁，有必要继续研究测量机制。