This section of the toolkit describes the context in which it was appropriate to use a questionnaire survey as part of an evaluation in Phase 1 of the From Boys to Men project.

A number of school-based domestic abuse prevention programmes have been developed in the UK but evidence as to the effectiveness of such programmes is limited. The aim of the From Boys to Men research was to evaluate the effectiveness of one such programme – Relationships without Fear (RwF) – and to see whether the outcomes differed by gender and experiences of domestic abuse.

In total, 1203 children aged 13-14 years took part in the questionnaire survey for this phase of the research. Half of the pupils, from seven schools, received the 6-week education programme (RwF); they completed a questionnaire to measure their attitudes towards domestic violence pre-, post-test (before and after the programme) and also at three-month follow-up. The pupils also responded to questions about experiences of abuse (as victims, perpetrators and witnesses) and help-seeking. Children in another six schools not yet receiving the intervention (the control group) responded to the same questions pre- and post-test but did not complete the three-month follow-up.

The survey data revealed that boys and girls who had received the intervention (RwF) became less accepting of domestic violence and more likely to seek help from pre- to post-test, compared to those in the control group; outcomes did not vary by experiences of abuse.

Find out:

• how the questionnaire scales were developed and utilised for the purpose of this research,
• some of the challenges of conducting research on a sensitive topic with children in schools,
• the design of the evaluation in the context of evaluation design issues more generally.