Federal Sexual Harassment Survey, 1980

This research was conducted in 1980 at the request of the Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Post Office and Civil Service in order to test preliminary findings on sexual harassment in the federal workplace. In May of 1980, 23,964 questionnaires were mailed to federal employees in the executive branch. The disproportionately stratified random sample was stratified by sex, minority status, salary, and agency (defense, health care, or other). Usable questionnaires were returned by 20,083 respondents, an 85% response rate. The questionnaire addressed issues of sexual harassment, including the following topics: attitudes regarding sexual behavior at work, how respondents define sexual harassment, opinions on remedies that would reduce sexual harassment, general data on incidence level and detailed data on specific incidents of sexual harassment, general data on the experiences of those who have been accused of sexually harassing others, attitudinal and demographic information about respondents' work settings, and demographic information on the personal characteristics of the respondents. The Murray Research Archive holds numeric file data from the study.