Dear study participant,
Thank you for your interest in and willingness to take part in our study! This is a pretest in which we examine the items of a psychological scale, in order to use this information for a follow-up study. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.
The survey deals with statements about sexual violence. Engaging with this topic can be distressing. If you are unable or unwilling to engage with this subject, we advise against participating in this study. If you notice that it is too distressing for you while completing the questionnaire, you may discontinue your participation at any time without giving a reason, simply by closing the browser window.
To take part in our study, you must be at least 18 years old and identify as male and heterosexual. It is not possible to participate with a smartphone. Please answer all questions honestly. There are no right or wrong answers; we are only interested in your personal opinion. If you find it difficult to decide on an answer right away, please choose the one that seems most fitting to you at first instinct.
As a thank you for taking part, you can win one of five vouchers worth €10. At the end of the study, we will ask for your email address if you would like to enter the raffle. In addition, students of the Psychologische Hochschule Berlin and other universities which allow for the collection of course credit from external research may receive 0.5 hours of course credit for their participation. To do so, you can generate a personal code at the end of the questionnaire, which is stored separately from all other data including your email address. This code is necessary to get the confirmation of the course credit. If you participate via SONA, you don't need to enter a code.
Voluntary participation and data security
Your participation in this study is voluntary, and you will not face any disadvantages if you choose not to participate. You may discontinue your participation at any time, without giving a reason and without any disadvantages, by closing the browser window. If you realize that you will not be able to finish at this time and need to close the browser
while completing the questionnaire, that is not a problem, however, your progress will not be saved. If you wish to complete the questionnaire at a later time, you will need to answer all the questions again.
Your answers are anonymous, meaning it is not possible to link your answers back to you as a person. Please note that, as a result, it is not possible to delete your data at a later point in time. No IP addresses are stored.
With your separate consent, the anonymous data may be shared with third parties (e.g., researchers other than those responsible for this study) upon request for scientific purposes; the exact nature, purpose, scope, and timing of any such data sharing cannot currently be foreseen. In all cases, no conclusions can be drawn about your identity. Before any anonymous data is shared, requests from third parties to use it are reviewed to confirm that they serve a scientific purpose. The anonymous data will only be used for scientific purposes (e.g., scientific presentations, conference contributions, scientific publications) and shared accordingly where applicable. All project staff are bound by confidentiality. The anonymized data sets are protected against unauthorized access, stored for ten years, and then disposed of in accordance with data protection regulations.
If you have any comments, concerns, or complaints regarding data protection or the security of your data, you may contact the study coordination team at Psychologische Hochschule Berlin or the data protection officer at Psychologische Hochschule Berlin.
Study Director
Prof. Dr. Rebecca Bondü
r.bondue@phb.de
Data Protection Officer at Psychologische Hochschule Berlin
Psychologische Hochschule Berlin
gGmbH
Email: datenschutz@phb.de
If you yourself or someone else becomes a victim of or witnesses sexual aggression and/or you need help or information or if you feel that you might have acted in a sexually abusive way in the past, or if you feel pressure or concern in this regard, you can contact anonymously, for example, the Sexual Abuse Helpline (Hilfetelefon Sexueller Missbrauch) at 0800 22 55 530 or via its online portal (https://www.hilfe-portal-missbrauch.de/hilfe-telefon). You can also contact the German Telephone Counseling Service (Telefonseelsorge Deutschland) at 0800 111 0 111 (https://www.telefonseelsorge.de/). For international helplines, you can visit https://ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html or https://www.interaction.org/wp-content/uploads/resource-library/international_centers_for_survivors_of_sexual_assault_45553.pdf (The resources and contact details in this handbook are provided to assist victims of sexual harassment and assault. It should be noted that services differ widely around the world based on cultural norms and level of financial support.).
Thank you for your participation!
