UNITED NATIONS E Economic and Social Distr. Council GENERAL ECE/CES/2009/12/Add.1 20 April 2009 ENGLISH ONLY ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE STATISTICAL COMMISSION CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS Fifty-seventh plenary session Geneva, 8-10 June 2009 Item 8 of the provisional agenda MANUAL ON VICTIMIZATION SURVEYS UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE-UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME MANUAL ON VICTIMIZATION SURVEYS Note by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe-United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Task Force on Victim Surveys GE.09- ECE/CES/2009/12/Add.1 page 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS ..................................................................................................4 I. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................6 A. Purpose of the manual..................................................................................................... 6 B. History of victim surveys: evolution and where we are today.......................................... 7 C. A message for policy makers ........................................................................................ 11 D. Limitations of crime victimization surveys.................................................................... 12 E. References .................................................................................................................... 13 II. PLANNING A CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY ................................................... 14 A. Victimization surveys and other types of official crime statistics................................... 14 B. Differences between victim surveys and police-reported data........................................ 17 C. Elements for international comparability: draft list of key topics................................... 20 D. References .................................................................................................................... 21 III. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES..................................................................................... 22 A. Introduction - the crime victimization survey process.................................................... 22 B. Goals/objectives/purposes of survey/collection history.................................................. 25 C. Quality assurance.......................................................................................................... 30 D. Budget, time frame and other constraints....................................................................... 31 E. Target populations ........................................................................................................ 38 F. Survey sample frames................................................................................................... 40 G. Sample design............................................................................................................... 45 H. Frequency of enumeration............................................................................................. 66 I. References .................................................................................................................... 68 IV. COUNTING OFFENCES AND VICTIMS.................................................................... 71 A. How to count offences and victims................................................................................ 71 B. Structure of the survey .................................................................................................. 78 C. Survey components....................................................................................................... 81 D. Household crimes ......................................................................................................... 88 E. Personal victimization experience ................................................................................. 91 F. Follow-up for victims.................................................................................................. 106 G. General attitudinal questions ....................................................................................... 110 H. Determining whether information can be obtained from other sources and linked to survey data......................................................................................................................... 114 I. Comparability of victimisation surveys ....................................................................... 116 J. Data collection and capture operations ........................................................................ 129 K. Reference period......................................................................................................... 142 L. References .................................................................................................................. 146 V. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN......................................................................................... 148 A. The design .................................................................................................................. 150 B. Specific issues of victimization surveys ...................................................................... 158 C. Language and cultural considerations.......................................................................... 183 D. Pre-testing and the pilot survey ................................................................................... 187 E. Summary .................................................................................................................... 192 F. References .................................................................................................................. 192 ECE/CES/2009/12/Add.1 page 3 VI. INTERVIEWING..........................................................................................................194 A. Non-response and survey error associated with respondents ........................................194 B. Selection and training of interviewers..........................................................................207 C. Interview quality .........................................................................................................216 D. References...................................................................................................................224 VII. DATA PROCESSING, ESTIMATION AND ANALYSIS .........................................225 A. Data processing and estimation....................................................................................225 B. Analysis and presentation............................................................................................232 C. References...................................................................................................................236 VIII. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ...............................................................................237 A. Protecting respondents.................................................................................................238 B. Other ethical considerations.........................................................................................242 C. References...................................................................................................................245 IX. DATA DISSEMINATION AND DOCUMENTATION...............................................245 A. Scope and purpose.......................................................................................................245 B. References...................................................................................................................260 X. CLOSING THE CIRCLE – EVALUATING COMPLETED SURVEYS ....................261 A. The importance of the evaluation process ....................................................................262 B. Data quality.................................................................................................................263 C. Survey goals................................................................................................................263 D. Utility of the survey.....................................................................................................264 E. Review of survey protocols .........................................................................................264 F. Methodological research..............................................................................................265 G. References...................................................................................................................265 APPENDIX A. Glossary of survey related terms ...............................................................267 APPENDIX B. Other surveys on crime and victimisation (business surveys, surveys on corruption) ............................................................................................................................274 APPENDIX C. Lessons from the pilot study of the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS) ...................................................................................................................290 APPENDIX D. Main results of the 2005 UNODC-UNECE inventory of victim surveys..298 ECE/CES/2009/12/Add.1 page 4 SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS Chapter I. Introduction 1. Chapter I of this Manual provides an introduction to the manual and its purpose, a brief history of crime victimization surveys, key