Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Rachel Lovell, PhD, is a sociologist, methodologist, and community-based researcher who studies gender-based violence and victimization, in particular, sexual assault, human sex trafficking and sex work, and intimate partner violence. She is currently leading several research projects in collaboration with community partners, including the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Research Project, which is a multi-year federally-funded examination of the unsubmitted sexual assault kit initiative in Cuyahoga County, Ohio; a federally-funded multi-year study of DNA, which is a project to identify and collect swabs from offenders who lawfully owe their DNA; an evaluation of community-based sexual assault victim advocacy; and an evaluation of a specialized, juvenile docket for victims of human trafficking. Dr. Lovell has collaborated on research and evaluation projects with a variety of agencies and community-based organizations, such as the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office, he Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, The Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center, The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, The Cleveland Clinic, and social service agencies, such as The Department of Child and Family Services. Dr. Lovell is a mixed-methods, applied researcher. She is primarily a quantitative methodologist with expertise in (including but not limited to) multivariate regression, event history analysis, structural equation modeling, quasi-experimental designs, multilevel regression. She also has extensive experience in designing surveys and managing and analyzing large-scale longitudinal data. Her qualitative experience includes designing, conducting, and analyzing interviews, focus groups, and content analysis. She is a Senior Research Associate at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education (Begun Center) at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (MSASS) at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. Formerly the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence at Kent State University, the Begun Center has almost 20 years of experience in collaborative community and field-based research. Since July of 2011, the Begun Center has been housed at MSASS at CWRU, a top ten Graduate School of Social Work. The Begun Center consists of more than 50 staff members, including students and administrative support. Faculty, researchers, and trainers are from a wide range of disciplines including psychology, education, social work, sociology, anthropology, and criminal justice. Senior faculty and researchers are nationally-recognized and well-cited scholars in the areas of juvenile justice, specialty courts, violence prevention, behavioral health, community-based research, and law enforcement. Dr. Lovell received her Ph.D. in sociology from The Ohio State University in 2007. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in sociology from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse, Child Trafficking and Exploitation, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Trafficking in Persons, Vicarious Trauma

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Child victims, Urban high crime neighborhood victims, Victims in Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Action research, Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies, Randomized controlled trial

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Action research, Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies