PARTICIPANTS NEEDED for PILOT STUDY

YOUR VOICE COUNTS!

CONTRIBUTE TO AN IMPORTANT STUDY

My name is Mandy Davis and I am a PhD student at Portland State University and I am conducting a study to understand survivors’ willingness to participle in the criminal justice system. Before I do the official study I would like help from survivors to make the survey better and make sure it is respectful and sensitive to the needs of sexual assault survivors.

What’s involved?
If you would like to participate in this study I would meet with you to complete an interview. The interview takes about 1 ½ - 2 hours and I will ask a set list of questions. These questions will be about your experiences accessing services, your decisions about reporting and prosecuting your case, and about the interview process.

What is the goal?
The primary goal of these interviews is to pilot the survey instrument for use in the next study. Piloting an instrument means we want to try out the questions to see if they make sense to you or if they need to be changed. We also want to see how long the interview takes and if you have any suggestions for making the interview process better. We also want to make sure the questions give us information to understand your experiences with service providers like law enforcement, attorneys, advocates and medical professionals and how these experiences influenced your willingness to participate in the criminal justice system. The answers that you provide will not be a part of the study but will be used to make improvements to the interview process.

Where and When?
We will schedule the interview to fit your schedule. We can meet at Portland State University or in a safe space you would prefer (a non-profit agency (SARC) coffee shop, or library).

What will you ask me?
The interview question will ask you about the following topics:
- The types of services you received and if you thought these were helpful.
- Your interest to participate in the criminal justice system (report, prosecute).
- The outcome of your case if it was reported.
- How you made decisions to access services or participate in the criminal justice system.
- Recommendations to improve services to survivors.
- Basic information about your assault. You WILL NOT be asked to tell your entire story, meaning you will not be asked to talk about every moment of the assault. The questions I will ask you about include: the date of the assault, the relationship with the offender, presence of physical injury, location, age, ethnicity, alcohol and/or drug involvement and if weapons were used. You have the right to not answer any question that is asked or you may not know the answer.
- If the questions were understandable and if you have recommendations for the interview process.
It is okay to have someone with you during the interview if you would like. The interview will take 1 to 2 hours and while you are answering questions the researcher will be taking notes. You can stop the interview at any time and you can say you don’t want to answer any question.

What do I get for my time?
You will receive a $30.00 gift certificate for the interview.

Who gets to see the information?
Only the researcher, Mandy Davis, will have access to your survey answers.

How am I protected?
There is always some risk involved with participating in a research project, but we will take all precautions to protect you. One risk is that you might feel uncomfortable thinking and talking about your experience as a victim of a sexual assault. You may also feel uncomfortable voicing your opinions about the service providers you worked with after your victimization or the criminal justice system. To address this risk, we have included telephone numbers of people you can contact if you need help or support. Another safeguard is that your responses are kept confidential. That means your name will never be connected with your responses. We also take the following precautions to protect you:
 All your information will be secured in locked file cabinets or password-protected computer files.
 Your answers will be disguised and combined with the answers of other survivors of sexual assault respondents in any report or presentation.

What you need to know:
By law, we must report to the authorities if we learn that you plan to hurt yourself, that you’ve hurt (or plan to hurt) someone else, or if someone has hurt a child or an elderly person. With this exception, we will treat all the information about you as confidential information.

Do I have to do this?
NO. Being in this study is voluntary. If you choose to participate, you have the right to refuse to answer any question or to request to be removed from the project at any time. Your decision about participation will not affect the services you receive from any other organization or individual.

How do I schedule an interview?
If you are interested in participating or hearing more about the pilot study please contact me by phone or email and I will be in touch [503.724.0939 or madavis@pdx.edu]