Information sheet
You are invited to participate in a research study, which aims to explore the association between psychopathic traits, positive relationship quality and also abusive behaviours in relationships. The latter includes the tendency to take revenge on a partner, including through the distribution of pornographic material. Importantly, this study is not looking at diagnosing psychopathy, it is simply considering this as a personality type, which at one end has caring and supportive tendencies and at the other more antisocial (i.e. psychopathic) tendencies.
This study is for an MSc in Forensic Psychology. It has ethical approval from the University of Central Lancashire where I am based - Jenna Fergus (
jfergus@uclan.ac.uk), along with my supervisor Professor Jane L. Ireland (
JLIreland1@uclan.ac.uk). You are free to contact either myself or my supervisor to assist with questions over this research. If you have any concerns about the research that you wish to raise with someone independent of the research team, you can contact the University Officer for Ethics (
OfficerForEthics@uclan.ac.uk).
To complete this research you need to be aged between 18 and 25 and consider yourself currently engaged in an intimate relationship that has lasted for at least twelve months.
You will be asked to complete several short questionnaires. They include questionnaires on:
- Relationship satisfaction.
- Difficulties in intimate relationships.
- Psychopathy (with a caring tendency at one end and a more antisocial/psychopathy tendency at the other).
- Questions about how you would respond in a fictional scenario concerning a relationship.
The questionnaires are completely anonymous. If you find any of them upset you please do not complete them. Only my supervisor and I will have access to the individual questionnaires and only group results will be reported in any publication.
You do not have to take part in this research. You also have the right to withdraw from the research at any point up to the completion of the questionnaire. As the questionnaire is anonymous it will be impossible to identify your data. Your data cannot therefore be removed after submission. Please note that the data is saved as you progress through the sections and so it will not be possible to discard questions answered up to the point of exiting as your data will not be identifiable. However, the research team will not be considering any surveys that are not at least 75% completed. These will be discarded.
The questionnaires will take roughly
20 minutes to complete. By completing and submitting the questionnaires the researchers will assume you consent to the research.
Due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions we would advise that you complete these questionnaires on your own and in private. As the questionnaire contains a number of sensitive issues, you should delete your browsing history following completion. You can do so through ‘Internet Options’ from whatever package you use (e.g. explorer/firefox). Please note that we will not be collecting IP addresses.
We would recommend that if you share a computer/device with others that due to the sensitive nature of this research that you complete the questionnaire in one sitting. Thus please allow sufficient time to complete.
What if I have questions or need support over the issues raised?
If you would like to discuss any of the information or questions raised in this survey, remember there are specialist support services that can help:
- Victim Support Helpline – 08081 68 9111