Call or whatsapp: 07356 200 544
Email: d.k.batchelor@sheffield.ac.uk
If you are undecided, please feel free to contact us anyway! We can discuss whether you are eligible for the study, and if you decide not to take part that is absolutely fine.
FAQs: Can I take part?
We invite you to tell us about your experience if someone has done or attempted to do any of these things, either in person or online:
Stolen something (including fraud)
Deliberately damaged something of yours
Threatened you
Attacked you
Controlled you using threats, force, or violence
Broken into your private property
Used or shared your personal data or images without your permission
Talked to you or touched you in a sexual way without your permission
Made you watch or take part in unwanted sexual activity
If you're not sure about what you experienced, feel free to contact us anyway and we can discuss it together.
Yes, we want to include people who have not reported as well as people who have.
We might not be able to interview you if you have reported and there is an ongoing investigation, but this will depend on the circumstances so please get in touch to discuss it.
We will keep your information strictly confidential, and only if you tell us about a risk to public safety then we may be obliged to pass on the information you have given us, but if so we would make every effort to discuss this with you before doing so.
Yes. We are trying to understand people's experiences of being affected by crime, whether the crime was minor or serious. If the incident affected you in some way, then you are eligible to take part.
Yes. We are trying to understand people's experiences of being affected by crime, whether it the crime was minor or serious.
Diana has experience supporting victim-survivors of very serious crimes (including bereavement by homicide), so she will be sensitive to your needs during the interview. Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with support as part of this project, but if you want support after the interview we will help you find something in your area.
That's fine. We are looking for people with all different types of experience, regardless of whether the crime was committed by strangers, acquaintances, friends, family, or your partner.
We will keep your information confidential, and we will not publish identifying details of people you mention either. This includes the person who committed the crime and anyone else involved.
FAQs: Tell me more about the project
The following information can also be downloaded as a pdf
The research is about experiences of crime and justice, and about what victim-survivors think about why the crime happened. The project is led by Dr. Diana Batchelor, mentored by Professor Joanna Shapland from the University of Sheffield. Diana has experience providing emotional and practical support to people affected by crime. This research is part of a three-year postdoctoral project funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
If you agree to be interviewed, we will have a conversation which would take about half an hour, or more if you would like to say more. I, Diana, will ask you questions, and record or note down your answers. I will try to arrange to talk with you whenever and however best suits you, within the constraints of the project. If it is practical, we can meet to talk in person. Otherwise, we can talk by phone, or online (google meet, etc.).
I will ask about your experience of a crime (or crimes) and what has happened since. We are especially interested in your views of justice, your thoughts about why the crime happened, and how your thoughts have changed over time. At any stage you can choose whether to carry on, and if there are questions you don’t want to answer, that’s no problem.
No, it is entirely up to you. If you choose to take part, you would sign a consent form and we will give you a copy to keep along with a copy of this information sheet. Even after you have signed the form, you can still withdraw from the study at any time until seven years after the end of the project, or until your data has been anonymised, combined with that of other participants and/or published, when it would no longer be possible to extract your data from the study.
Some people may find the questions about experiences of crime distressing. If this happens, you can choose to take a break, discuss what support you need and/or end the conversation. On the other hand, some people find that being listened to can feel good or help them understand their own thoughts better.
All the personal identifying information that you give us (e.g., your name and contact details) will be kept strictly confidential and will only be accessible to members of the research team. If you tell us about a risk to public safety then we may be obliged to pass on the information you have given us, but we would make every effort to discuss this with you before doing so. We will delete your personal identifying information after the interview or as soon as you no longer want to be contacted about the project.
If you agree, we will record the interview. When it is written up, your name and details will be removed so you cannot be identified, and the original recording will be deleted. We will keep this anonymised transcript to analyse for up to seven years after the end of the project. If you agree, we will also keep limited, anonymised extracts from the transcript (with no personal identifiers) in a public data repository. This means we will be able to link to the extracts, and other researchers will be able to check our findings, and/or conduct further research.
We don’t yet know the titles of future publications about this work, but we expect to include it in several journal articles and a book. Let us know if you want us to update you when publications come out, or keep our contact details and get in touch, or you can check this page for new publications:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/law/people/centre-criminological-research/diana-batchelor
If you take part, we would process your personal data on the basis that it is in the public interest (Data Protection Act, 2018, Article 6(1)(e)). We may also collect some data that is defined in the legislation as more sensitive (e.g., if you tell us about your religious beliefs), and the legal basis is that it is ‘in the public interest, scientific research purposes or statistical purposes' (9(2)(j). Further information can be found in the University’s Privacy Notice https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/data-protection/privacy/general
The University of Sheffield will act as the Data Controller for this study. This means that the University is responsible for looking after your information and using it properly.
This project has been ethically approved via the University of Sheffield’s Ethics Review Procedure, as administered by the School of Law.
If you have a concern about any aspect of this project, please email me, Diana Batchelor, [d.k.batchelor (at) sheffield.ac.uk], or my mentor Professor Joanna Shapland [j.m.shapland (at) sheffield.ac.uk]. We will do our best to answer your query. If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the Head of the Law School, Professor Richard Kirkham [r.m.kirkham (at) sheffield.ac.uk], or Mrs Lindsay Unwin, Research Ethics & Integrity Manager in Research Services [l.v.unwin (at) sheffield.ac.uk / (00 44) (0)114 222 1443], or for more information see www.sheffield.ac.uk/rpi/ethics-integrity
If the complaint relates to how your personal data has been handled, please find information about how to raise a complaint in the University’s Privacy Notice: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/data-protection/privacy/general
