Research Materials

The research instruments used in the From Boys to Men project are listed as follows:

Phase 1: Pre-Test Questionnaire; Post-Test QuestionnaireFollow-up Questionnaire

The Attitudes towards Domestic Violence (ADV) questionnaire was specifically designed to assess children’s attitudes to domestic abuse and is constructed around six different conditions, e.g. Do you think it is OK for a man to hit his partner/wife if he says he is sorry afterwards? Questions that relate to violence within an adult intimate relationship are then repeated in relation to a boyfriend and girlfriend. Each question is followed by a four-point scale: 1 = it’s perfectly OK, 2 = it’s sort of OK, 3 = it’s sort of wrong, 4 = it’s really wrong.

The ADV questionnaire was intended to evaluate the effectiveness of a six week educational prevention programme, called Relationships without Fear (RWF), run by Arch in Stoke-on-Trent. Versions of the questionnaire as implemented at the end of the programme and three months later are also available. Half of the sampled children participated in the RWF intervention and then all of those originally surveyed completed a Post-Test questionnaire for comparison. Those who received the intervention also completed the Follow-up questionnaire after a further three months in order to measure any lasting impact from the intervention.

The questionnaire is available in different languages: Urdu Questionnaire

Phase 2: Focus Group Schedule

The focus groups explored young men’s attitudes to domestic abuse. Groups were selected on the basis that they may have a potentially distinctive relationship to violence and/or intimacy. The groups were presented with a government anti-violence publicity campaign and a series of hypothetical vignettes for their response and discussion.

Phase 3: In-Depth Interview Schedule

In-depth life history interviews were undertaken with young men aged 16-21. The schedule was designed to encourage participants to share their experiences of domestic abuse, whether as victims, witnesses or perpetrators. They were asked to recount and give examples of various violent or abusive scenarios that may have impacted on them throughout their lives in order to understand why some young men become victims or perpetrators of domestic abuse.