Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Dr. Megan Alderden is research director of the Authority's Research & Analysis Unit, which serves as the Illinois Statistical Analysis Center. She has nearly 20 years of experience conducting and managing large research projects. She has a history of studying and publishing in peer-reviewed journals on victimization, with a focus on sexual victimization case outcomes and victim participation in the criminal justice system (e.g., Alderden & Long, 2016; Alderden & Ullman, 2012a and 2012b, Cross, Alderden, et al., 2017). Dr. Alderden was a co-principal investigator on a NIJ-funded project examining the role of forensic evidence in the prosecution of sexual assaults and a member of the core research team for another NIJ-funded study examining the forensic evidence and criminal justice outcomes in a statewide sample of sexual assault cases (see Cross, Alderden, et al., 2014). Her interests include sexual assault investigations, impact of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases, and sexual victimization.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse, Gun Violence, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Terrorism and Mass Violence

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Child victims, LGBTQ victims, Urban high crime neighborhood victims

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies