Evaluating Terrorism and Targeted Violence Prevention Programs

Development and Validation of Tools for TVTP Outcome Evaluations

So What?

In 2022, NCITE completed a systematic review of targeted violence and terrorism prevention (TVTP) literature, which identified a need for a consistent approach to evaluating TVTP programs. Over the past 20 years, TVTP has been a point of policy emphasis for governments around the world at federal, state, and local levels. However, measuring the effectiveness of TVTP programs continues to be a challenge. To address these gaps, scholars and policymakers have sought to develop assessment tools that can evaluate a wide range of TVTP programs and better inform practice.

Project Summary

This project will develop and validate two instruments suitable for assessing TVTP program outcomes, specifically focusing on two areas of interest – tolerance of violence and identifying concerning behaviors. Developing these assessments will lead to a deeper understanding of TVTP programming outcomes and provide mechanisms for government and practitioners to evaluate TVTP programs. Final deliverables for this project will include the two assessments, associated technical documentation, and implementation support tools.

Purpose/Objectives

The project will investigate two target constructs – tolerance of violence and identifying concerning behaviors – and develop tools to measure them.

Method

The research team will develop and validate conditional reasoning assessment (CRA) and situational judgment test (SJT) instruments for TVTP program evaluation. CRA will assess tolerance of violence while SJT will assess the ability to identify and appropriately respond to concerning behaviors. To develop the CRA assessment tool, the research team will review sources — academic literature, manifestos, court cases, biographies, and fictional works — directly related to TVTP justification mechanisms and validate this using pilot tests with college student and community member populations. To develop and validate the SJT assessment tool, researchers will engage specific SMEs in discussions about target indicators and validate findings by pilot testing with undergraduate students and community members.

Outputs and Impact

Development of justification mechanisms for tolerance of violence
Validated conditional reasoning assessment (CRA) and situational judgment test (SJT)
Materials to support implementation of the CRA and SJT instruments
Workshops with subject matter experts
Final reports

	Matt Allen, Ph.D. University of Nebraska at Omaha Assistant Professor of Management College of Business Administration Head of Measurement Innovation at NCITE Expertise: Applied research, solution implementation
	Erin Kearns, Ph.D. University of Nebraska at Omaha Associate Professor School of Criminology and Criminal Justice Head of Prevention Research Initiatives at NCITE Expertise: Relationship between public perceptions of terrorism and counterterrorism practices, relationship between communities and law enforcement
	Sydney Reichin, Ph.D. North Carolina State University Assistant Professor College of Humanities and Social Sciences
	Callie Vitro University of Nebraska at Omaha Graduate Research Assistant School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
	Ares Boira-Lopez University of Nebraska at Omaha NCITE Research Specialist