Overview:
VEXData visualization dashboards were created to visually display our recent data and facilitate comparisons across demographic groups and over time. These data can be used to begin to explore new research questions, or provide quick answers to important questions about Americans’ violence experiences.

It is important to note, however, that these data alone cannot be used to draw statical inference, as apparent differences across subgroups do not take into account uncertainty in estimates, and therefore may reflect random variation rather than statistically significant differences. Though results displayed by the dashboard utilize the same weights used in our written reports and articles, precise estimates may vary slightly due to rounding. For more information on our weighting procedures, consult the “Project Methods and Transparency Report” for the specific survey wave, which can be found on both vexdata.org and the OpenICSPR data repository.  

As is standard practice, we avoid reporting results where cells are too small to yield reliable estimates (typically n<50). The data dashboard will still show such comparisons, so we recommend caution when interpreting findings that rely on a denominator of fewer than 50 respondents.  Details about each data point, including the number of respondents used to produce a given result, can be found by hovering over each point in a bar or line graph.

For the most precise analysis, we recommend  using our publicly-available,  de-identified datasets, which are permanently housed on the OpenICPSR data repository, or consulting the findings in our articles, reports, and briefs on vexdata.org.

How to explore the dashboard:

Violence Type
You can start your analysis by examining the prevalence (reported percentage) of one of five violence experiences, across two dimensions—lifetime (ever) or past-year. Lifetime prevalence captures whether respondents have ever experienced one of the following forms of violence within their lifetimes, while past-year prevalence captures only incidents that occurred within the past 12 months.

• physical violence experience
• sexual violence experience
• intimate partner violence experience
• physical violence perpetration
• sexual violence perpetration

Demographic Characteristics
Next, you can then compare prevalence across  demographic characteristics, which include the following:

• Age
• Race
• Gender
• Income
• Education
• Sexuality
• Employment Status
• Disability Status

The left-hand side bar contains demographic categories that can be selected or filtered. As a default, all available demographic categories will be pre-selected, but users can unselect specific categories, as desired.

For example, for a research question related to differences in lifetime physical violence experiences among  employed and unemployed young people, users might first unselect or filter out data from older demographic groups. Second, users may alternate between toggling the employed and unemployed/not in the workforce boxes to generate comparisons across these employment categories.

Years (2020-2025)
Data can be displayed for a single year, or across multiple years. Data will be omitted if unavailable for a given indicator in a specific year.

Output Format
Data can be displayed as either bar or line charts with either percentages or raw numbers displayed. Currently displayed figures can be downloaded and saved as a .png files by clicking the blue downward facing arrow on the right-hand side above the graph. The display can also be expanded by clicking the box to the right of the download button.