Participant Information

Please note that the data-collection / participant involvement phase of this project is now over.

The findings from this research project are now available.

For further information about how Lancaster University processes personal data for research purposes and your data rights please visit our webpage: www.lancaster.ac.uk/research/data-protection

You are being invited to participate in a study by me, Dr Siobhan Weare, a Lecturer in Law at Lancaster University Law School. The study focuses on the experiences of men who are forced to vaginally, anally, or orally penetrate a woman with their penis. Please take time to read the following information carefully before you decide whether or not you wish to take part. If you have any questions regarding the study please contact me via email; s.weare@lancaster.ac.uk

What is the purpose of the study?
The main objectives of this study are to explore, give a voice to, and understand the experiences of men who have been forced-to-penetrate women. This phrase forced-to penetrate is one which includes any and all cases where a man engages in penile penetration of a woman without the man’s consent. This could include non-consensual penile penetration of a woman’s/women’s vagina, mouth or anus. Examples of such circumstances could include, but are in no means limited to:

A man waking up to find a woman having sex with him without his consent.
A man being forced to have non-consensual sex with a woman as a result of her blackmailing him.
A man having non-consensual sex with a woman after being physically, emotionally, or financially threatened.

What will happen if I take part?
If you would like to participate you must be a male who is 18 years of age and older. You will be interviewed by the research assistant on this project on your experiences of being forced-to-penetrate a woman. You can choose whether to be interviewed face-to-face, via telephone, or via Skype. If you would like to be interviewed face-to-face the interviews will take place in a safe and secure office at Survivors Manchester. Your interview will be recorded. The audio recording will be stored securely, and following the interview immediately transferred to a password protected and encrypted device. Any information used from your interview in our research will be anonymised. A convenient date and time will be arranged for the interview and it is expected that the interview will last for approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour.

Do I have to take part?
No. It’s completely up to you to decide whether or not you take part. If you do decide to take part you will be given this information sheet to keep and will be asked to sign a consent form. If you do decide to take part you will not have to answer any questions that you are not comfortable with and do need to give a reason for not wanting to answer. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason.

What if I take part, but change my mind?
You are free to withdraw at any time during the interview. Following the interview you can also withdraw up to 2 weeks later and if you do so all data collected from and relating to you will be deleted and will not be used in the study. Data means the information, views, ideas, etc. that you have shared. You can withdraw following the interview by emailing me at s.weare@lancaster.ac.uk. You do not need to tell me why you want to withdraw.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?
It is hoped that participating in this study will provide you with an opportunity to discuss what happened to you and ensure that your voice is heard. It is hoped that the answers given to the survey questions will enable a greater understanding of the experiences of men who are forced-to-penetrate women and will help to develop practice and policy in this area. You will also be able to access a copy of the project’s report via the project’s website (http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/forced-to-penetrate-cases/) in Summer 2019

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?
During or following your interview you may experience distress and anxiety as a result of discussing your non-consensual sexual experiences. Therefore, prior to the interview you will be provided with a pamphlet containing the contact details for support services such as Survivors Manchester and information about the Male Survivors Partnership. Information will also be included about the support offered by other organisations, as well as online support and guidance to ensure that you are signposted to the support that is most relevant to you. In supporting this research, Survivors Manchester have also agreed to provide specialist male specific support and counselling to any participants who would like it, including providing access to local agencies. All the information in the pamphlet and the contact details for support organisations will also be available on the project website (http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/forced-to-penetrate-cases/).

If you are experiencing ongoing sexual or domestic abuse then participating in this study may put you at risk of further abuse. Whilst I will keep your participation confidential (see below), it is possible that an abusive partner may discover your involvement, by, for example, interrupting the telephone interview, or finding our communications prior to your interview taking place. In such a situation, I would not be able to assist you. I am concerned to ensure that being involved in the study does not place you at risk, but in particular if our contact is by remote means, there is little I will be able to do to help you. You should only participate if it is safe for you to do so. If you opt to be interviewed via telephone or Skype you should make sure that you arrange a safe time and space for this be conducted, for example at a friend’s house. If you opt to be interviewed face-to-face at Survivors Manchester, we will be on safe premises. But you should nevertheless arrange the interview for a time that minimises risks associated with your involvement. As a researcher, it will be very difficult for me to assist you if you are at risk of, or experience, abuse or violence as a result of participating in this study.

Will my involvement be kept confidential?
No-one except myself and the research assistant on the project will be aware that you have taken part, unless you choose to tell other people or I feel that confidentiality needs to be breached due to a risk of serious harm (see below). We have several processes in place to maintain your confidentiality. If you are interested in being interviewed for this study, please fill out the contact form available here – https://lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJP4264v9BLccV7
You should delete this site from your internet history if you do not want others to know that you have completed the contact form. Information on deleting your browsing history is available here.
The contact information that you provide will be stored securely. Once you have contacted us to indicate that you are interested in being interviewed, we will respond to you using the method of contact you indicated as being most appropriate, during the times you suggested were most appropriate. This will help to minimise the chances of our contact being intercepted in any way.

If you are not able to complete the online form for any reason, you can indicate your interest at being interviewed and provide your contact details by writing to me at:
Dr Siobhan Weare
The Law School
Lancaster University
Lancaster
LA1 4YN

If you opt for a telephone or Skype interview and the line is disconnected for any reason, we will not call you back as we realise that you may have terminated the call because you have been interrupted. We will wait for you to call us back if, and when, you are able to do so, or wait for you to arrange another interview time if you wish. This will further help to ensure your involvement remains confidential.

Any identifying information that you include in your interview will be used in a way that makes identification highly unlikely, for example the use of pseudonyms for anyone that you name and/or places that you identify by name.

When completing this survey you are likely to be disclosing that you have been the victim of a crime. I will not share any disclosures about this with the police or the authorities. It is completely your decision whether you wish to report what has happened to you. However, confidentiality may be broken if you disclose a potential or ongoing risk of serious harm to someone else, in particular a child. If I feel that confidentiality needs to be breached you will be fully informed about why this is happening and before it occurs.

How will my data be stored?
Following your interview, the audio recording will be transferred to an encrypted folder on a password protected device. It will then be deleted from the recording device. The transcript of your interview will also be stored in encrypted files and on password-protected computers, where only myself and the research assistant are able to access them. The encrypted files will be held in the cloud storage system ‘the Box’, Lancaster University’s own secure online storage space.

I will store hard copies of any data securely in locked cabinets in my office at Lancaster University. In accordance with University guidelines, I will keep the data securely for a minimum of ten years in Lancaster University’s data repository system ‘Pure’. Data generated by the study will be retained in accordance with Lancaster University’s policies on ethical research (available at http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/depts/research/documents/New%20ethics%20docs/Ethicscode-of-practice%20Senate.pdf).

How will the information I have shared with you be used and what will happen to the results of the research study?
I will use the data you have shared only in the following ways: in academic publications such as journal articles and/or book chapters, in blog posts, and potentially in media engagement related to the study. I will also present the results at academic and practitioner conferences, as well as informing policy-makers about the results. When writing up the findings from this study, I would like to reproduce some of the experiences and information that you have shared with me. When doing so, I will only use anonymised data and quotes so that although I will use your words, you cannot be readily identified in publications. The research data collected from this study may be shared with other academic researchers as well as policy-makers and other organisations who work with men who have experienced sexual and/or domestic violence. Any research data that is shared will be anonymised and will be done by sharing encrypted files.

Who has reviewed the study?
The study has been reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Management School Research Ethics Committee at Lancaster University.

What if I have a question or concern?
If you have any questions about this study please contact me: Dr Siobhan Weare, The Law School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YN, or via email; s.weare@lancaster.ac.uk

If you wish to contact an impartial third party not associated with this study regarding any question, concern or complaint you may have about me or the study, please contact: Professor Alisdair Gillespie, Head of the Law School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YN, or via email; a.gillespie@lancaster.ac.uk

Thank you for considering your participation in this project.