The Developing and Assessing Measures for Social Surveys (DAMSS) project is a sexual and reproductive health measure development and research project within the Department of Applied Health Science at Indiana University Bloomington’s School of Public Health. DAMSS is a multi-year study aimed at developing and psychometrically assessing scales and survey items to measure abortion attitudes for use in both English and Spanish social surveys with the goal of such items being included in well-regarded national polls and surveys (e.g. General Social Survey, Gallup, Pew). Given the linguistic diversity of the US population, measures are being developed in both English and Spanish. The DAMSS project is led by Drs. Kristen Jozkowski (PI; public health), Brandon Crawford (PI; public health), Ronna Turner, and Wen-Juo Lo (U of A, Co-PIs; statistics and research methodology). The DAMSS team also comprises faculty, staff, students, and collaborators in other disciplines at Indiana University, the University of Arkansas, NORC at the University of Chicago, and other academic and professional institutions. This project presents unique opportunities for gaining research experience, disseminating findings through peer reviewed publications, at conferences, and meetings with scholars and thought leaders, and working on a national project with a dynamic, interdisciplinary team.
