The Effect of Question Order on Disclosure of Intimate Partner Violence: An Experimental Test Using the Conflict Tactics Scales

Two plausible but contradictory approaches to question order in research on sensitive or criminal behavior are (1) that presenting the questions in a sequence corresponding to a culturally recognized behavior pattern will facilitate disclosure, and (2) that presenting questions in random order will result in more disclosure because random order disrupts response sets. The question order of the original Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS1) used the culturally recognized sequence approach, and the revised CTS (CTS2) used a modified random order. This experiment was designed to determine which of these two question orders results in more disclosure of physical and sexual assault of a dating partner. The standard version of the CTS2, which has the questions from each of the 5 scales interspersed in a slightly modified random order, was administered to every second student in a sample of 417 university students. The other half of the sample were given the same instrument but with the questions in the culturally recognized sequential order used in the CTS1. The cultural sequence order begins with the socially approved behaviors in the Negotiation scale and ends with scales measuring antisocial and the criminal behavior such as the Physical Assault scale. The results indicate that the CTS2 random order produced significantly higher disclosure rates for the scales that measure criminal behavior (Physical Assault, Injury, and Sexual Coercion) and made no difference for the other CTS2 scales (Negotiation and Psychological Aggression). Although these results suggest that the CTS2 random order is the preferred approach, reasons to treat that conclusion with caution are presented.     

从模式化的八旗制度看满族法律程序意识

满族作为中国封建社会最后一个王朝的建立者,其政治制度、法律制度和民族文化一直是东亚各国研究的热门问题。从法文化的研究角度,对满族入关以前的政治制度和法律文化进行研究和分析,以八旗制度为切入点,思考满族共同体的模式化思维方式和法律程序意识之间的内在联系。     

我国基因专利保护范围界定的思考

基因专利保护范围边界的确定是当前生物科技专利领域中争论的焦点之一。专利保护范围决定着专利垄断权的实际价值，基因专利保护范围直接影响着生物技术产业的发展。主要梳理美国、德国、瑞士和日本在基因专利保护范围上的发展变迁趋势，同时初步探讨对我国基因专利保护范围界定方面给予的启示。     

“The Legal Culture Must Assimilate the Scientific Culture” and Vice Versa?

Book reviewed in this article:
Faigman, David, Kaye, David, Saks, Michael and Sanders, Joseph, Modern Scientific Evidence. The Law and Science of Expert Testimony