Another methodology to test your predicitons would be to examine landmark court cases. You can examine changes in law and language.
I agree with the other commenters about the need to record other relevant demographic data, or restrict the surveys to a specific demographic group (though that may be tough). If the population gets too large, consider reducing the number of age catagories, since 3 age categories should be sufficient for your study.
I'd favor situatiational questions over abstract questions. Even better to have them react to real court cases from different times. For example: In Smith vs. Wade, a man was sentenced to 2 years in prison for physically forcing his wife to have sex. Do you feel this sentence was:
A) Much too severe; B) somewhat too severe; C) about right; D) not enough; E) not nearly enough
This would tie your study to specific cases, and is much better than a question like: How much punishment should a man have for..." Or "How do you feel about rape in marriage."
Good start,
Chris
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