Ethics Submission Form

Faculty of Education, Health and Well-being

 You must complete all sections of this form in as much detail as possible (word counts are given if
necessary.) If your form is incomplete, it will be returned to you to resubmit.
 You must be given approval for your research project from the University before you can begin.
 Applications should be submitted by 1st of each month to fehwethics@wlv.ac.uk
 Applications will be reviewed, and a response given by 30th/31st of the same month unless you are
notified otherwise.

In light of the Covid-19 global crisis, you need to confirm the following:

1. I confirm that the research will fully comply with current government guidance on social distancing, hygiene,
travel, etc. Yes
2. I confirm that the research will fully comply with any relevant current statutory body guidelines on
conducting research online or in the context of Covid-19 (e.g. BPS, DFE, etc.) Yes
3. I understand that it is my responsibility to update this submission and I will obtain further approval if there
are any changes required to the activities within the project at the time of data collection. Yes

Section One

First Name: An University Student 0000000

Number:
Surname: Other Daytime Contact Number: 123456787
University Email Address: An.Other@wlv.ac.uk (in case we need to contact you)
Name of Project Supervisor, Director of Studies or Principal Investigator: Dr S Freud

Subject area your research/project is located (Please check all that apply)
FEHW ✘ FSE
Education FABSS
Health COLT
Sport Cross University Project
Psychology ✘ Other (Please give details below)

Is this study Neither

Please indicate the category of project that you are applying for. Categories are outlined in the handbook.
Category A

Give details of service user involvement in the development and/or completion of the research.
N/A

Section Two

2.1 Project title:

Attitudes towards offenders: the effects of mental health and gender.

2.2 Give details of proposed research questions/hypothesis

This study explores the publics attitudes towards offenders, specifically the effects of mental health and gender and
it is hypothesised that:
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H1. Female offenders will receive more lenient sentences than male offenders.
H2. Female offenders will be considered as less dangerous than male offenders.
H3. Individuals with a mental health condition will be perceived as more likely to reoffend than individuals with no
mental health condition.
H4. Individuals with a mental health condition will be seen as less accountable for their actions.
H5. Previous knowledge and experience of an individual with a mental health condition will affect participants views
on the offender.

2.3 Briefly outline your project, stating the rationale, aims and expected outcomes (300 words)
Individuals with mental illnesses are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. This doesn’t necessarily mean
they commit more offences but are often over-targeted (Howarth, 2018). This could be due to the fact that the
media tend to label criminals as ‘crazy’ and ‘mental’ resulting in the publics perceptions mentally ill individuals as
‘dangerous’ or ‘violent’ (Ghiasi, Azhar & Singh, 2020). A survey of 1737 adults regarding several mental health
conditions found that people with schizophrenia were commonly perceived as dangerous and people with any of the
conditions were perceived as hard to talk to (Crisp et al., 2000). Furthermore, a similar study to the one in question
used vignettes to categorise public conceptions on mental illnesses. They found those with mental illnesses to be
strongly correlated with fears of violence and a desire for limited social interaction (Link et al., 1999).
It is suggested that more males than females pass through the criminal justice system and with more severe
consequences. This was explored by De Vogel and De Ruiter (2005) using a sample of female offenders matched with
male offenders to study the differences between perceived risk of violence (assessed by HRC-20). It was found that
significantly more males were charged for reoffending than females although there were no significant differences in
recorded physical violence or the HRC-20 scale. This supports the idea of more positive views being shown towards
female offenders in the same situations as the male offenders (De Vogel & De Ruiter, 2005). Additionally, a 2001
study found 31.6% of males and 9.4% of females aged over 13 years had been arrested in the last five years with
males being 3-4 times more likely to have been arrested; regardless of age group and offence (Hunter, 2001).

This study aims to further the knowledge from the previous studies with more recent findings, in the hope that
people with mental health conditions in the criminal justice system can be treated more fairly and remove the
stigma towards these individuals. This area is important to research as these opinions negatively affect these groups
of people and removing the stigma would help to improve their way of life.

2.4 How will your research be conducted? (750 words max)

Describe the methods so that it can be easily understood by the Ethics Committee. Ensure that acronyms and subject specific terminology are
clearly explained.
Participants
Participants will be a self-selected sample recruited online through social media by sharing the Qualtrics (online
survey) link to family and friends. Snowball sampling will also be used by asking participants prior to the study
whether they know anyone who may wish to take part. The aim for this study is to obtain 128 participants as
indicated by a power analysis. The only requirement is to be over 18 years of age which will help to obtain a robust
sample and set of results which will be more generalisable to the wider public.
Design
The design of this study is a 2 (mental health condition: present/absent) x 2 (perpetrator gender: male/female)
between subjects ANOVA design. The dependant variables are accountability of actions, likelihood of reoffending,
perceived dangerousness and sentencing decision.
Materials
Vignettes: a short vignette, describing a violent assault is used. Four versions are created, manipulating the gender of
the perpetrator and the presence or absence of a mental health condition. Participants are randomly allocated to
one of the four conditions.
Attitude toward offenders questionnaire.
A short four item questionnaire is used to determine attitudes toward the offender described. The first four items
are measured on a 10-point likert scale and includes the questions “How responsible is the defendant for their
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actions?” (where 1 = not at all responsible and 10 = completely responsible), “In your opinion, how likely is it that
this person will reoffend?” (where 1 = extremely unlikely and 10 = extremely likely) and “How dangerous do you
think the defendant is?” (where 1 = not at all dangerous and 10 = extremely dangerous). The final question, “Should
the defendant receive a prison sentence?” is answered as yes/no.
(See appendix D).
Procedure
Participants shall be invited to take part in the study via social media. They will first be directed to an information
sheet outlining what the study will involve, any risks/benefits, information involving confidentiality and contact
information for any potential questions or concerns (See appendix A).
If the participant wishes to take part, they will be provided with a consent form to confirm that they are happy to
take part, know what is involved and are happy to have their data analysed (See appendix B).
Providing consent is given, the participant will be required to complete a demographics form asking their age,
gender and experience with mental health. This will confirm the participant is of required age to complete the study
and provide insight to any potential extraneous variables such as experience or history with mental health (See
appendix C).
The participant will then be taken to the main part of the study in which they will view one of four possible vignettes
(randomly allocated). After reading the vignette, participants will complete the brief attitudes toward offenders
questionnaire (See appendix D for vignettes and questions).
After completing the study, the participants will be presented with a debrief form which will thank the participants
for their participation and give any further information and contact details they may need (See appendix E).
Analysis
Following the study, the data collected will be organised and analysed using SPSS. The analysis will be a 2x2 between
subjects ANOVA. The sentencing question will be analysis using a chi-square test.

2.5a Does your research involve children under 18 years of age? No

2.5b If yes, do you have an Enhanced Disclosure Certificate from the Criminal Records Bureau/Disclosure and Barring
Service No

2.6 Are participants in your study going to be recruited from a potentially vulnerable group? See RPU website here
No
If you have answered ‘Yes’ above, click here to enter text.

2.7 How will your data be analysed?

After collecting the data through Qualtrics, the data will be organised and analysed using SPSS. The analysis will be a
2 (mental health condition: present/absent) x 2 (perpetrator gender: male/female) between subjects ANOVA. The
sentencing question will be analysis using a chi-square test.

2.8 Is ethical approval required by an external agency? (e.g. NHS, other university, outside organisation)
No
Enter contact details here of person who can verify ethical approval if necessary.

2.9 What, in your view, are the ethical considerations involved in this project? (e.g. confidentiality, consent, risk, physical or
psychological harm, etc.) Please explain in full sentences. Do not simply list the issues. Please make it clear how you are going to deal with
issues with regard to your own welfare and safety.

Confidentiality ✘

Participation in this study will be completely anonymous and no names will be aske

Consent ✘
All participants will be required to complete a consent form (see appendix B) following r

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Participants under 18 ✘
All participants are required to be over the age of 18 in order to take part in th

Physical harm ✘
There is no risk of physical harm in taking part in this study as it only involves a vol
Psychological harm ✘
There are no risks to psychological harm to the participants however, any que

2.10 Have participants been/will be fully informed of the risks and benefits of participating and of their right to
refuse participation or withdraw from the research at any time?
Yes (outline procedures for informing participants in the space below)
The information sheet provided to all participants before starting the study includes a section outlining the benefits
and risks of the study. The participants are a self-selected sample so are able to choose whether they take part. They
are also assured that participation is completely voluntary, and they are able to withdraw from the study at any
point without having to provide a reason.

2.11 How will you ensure that the identity of your participants is protected? See RPU website here
Participation in this study will be completely anonymous and no names are required, participants are assured of this
prior to completing the study. Once the data is submitted, participants are only identifiable by their unique code
which they have generated. This code is known only to the participant.

2.12 How will you ensure that the data remains confidential? See RPU website here
The data will not be available to anyone not carrying out the study. The data collected will be stored on a secure
server in a password protected folder with only the researchers having access.

2.13 How will you store your data during and after the project? See RPU website here
No data will be paper based; all data will be online collected via Qualtrics (an online survey). The data will then be
stored on a secure server in a password protected folder whilst the study is being carried out and securely destroyed
after two years

2.14 Please list references.

Crisp, A. H., Gelder, M. G., Rix, S., Meltzer, H. I., & Rowlands, O. J. (2000). Stigmatisation of people with mental
illnesses. The British journal of psychiatry: the journal of mental science, 177, 4–7. HYPERLINK
"https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.177.1.4"https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.177.1.4

De Vogel, V., & De Ruiter, C. (2005). The HCR‐20 in personality disordered female offenders: A comparison with a
matched sample of males. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy: An International Journal of Theory & Practice, 12(3),
226-240.

Ghiasi, N., Azhar, Y., & Singh, J. (2020). Psychiatric Illness And Criminality. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537064/

Howarth, E. (2018). Overrepresentation in criminal justice systems. Retrieved 23 November 2020, from
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseupr/2018/01/25/overrepresentation-in-criminal-justice-systems/

Hunter, B. (2001). Factors underlying Indigenous arrest rates. Sydney, Australia: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and
Research.

Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C., Bresnahan, M., Stueve, A., & Pescosolido, B. A. (1999). Public conceptions of mental
illness: labels, causes, dangerousness, and social distance. American journal of public health, 89(9), 1328–1333.
https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.89.9.1328

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Section Three

3.1 Is this data set of potentially illicit origin? * No

*We may need to consider requests for ethical approval from researchers using data that was obtained without the consent of the original data
owners or data subjects.

3.2 Does your research fit into any of the following security-sensitive categories? See RPU website here
Security Sensitive Category No
Commissioned by the military No
Commissioned under an EU security call No
Involve the acquisition of security clearances No
Concerns terrorist or extreme groups No

If you have answered yes to any part of question 3.2 please ensure that you complete questions 3.3 – 3.8

3.3 Does your research involve the storage on a computer of any records, statements or other documents that can
be interpreted as promoting or endorsing terrorist acts?

3.4 Will your research involved the electronic transmission (e.g. as an email attachment) of any records or
statements that can be interpreted as promoting or endorsing terrorist acts?

3.5 Do you agree to store electronically on a secure University file store any records or statements that can be
interpreted as promoting or enduring terrorist acts? Do you also agree to scan and upload any paper documents
with the same sort of content? Access to the file store will be protected by a password unique to you.
Choose an item.
If you have chosen ‘No’ click here to enter text.

3.6 Do you agree NOT to transmit electronically to any third-party documents in the University secure document
store?

3.7 Will your research involve visits to websites that might be associated with extreme or terrorist organisations? See
RPU website here
If you have chosen ‘Yes’ click here to enter text.

3.8 You are advised that visits to websites that might be associated with extreme or terrorist organisations may be
subject to surveillance by the police. Accessing those sites from University IP addresses might lead to police
enquiries. Do you understand this risk?

Section Four
4.1 Appendices (All submissions) Please list the items that you are submitting with this document. (These will need to be submitted to
FEHWEthics@wlv.ac.uk ) You may want to include additional information that will help the panel with their decision such as your proposal.
You need to provide examples of research instruments, recruitment posters and leaflets, information sheets (age appropriate) assent forms
(for children), consent forms, risk assessment if research is carried out abroad.
Appendix A:

Participant Information Sheet

Attitudes Towards Offenders

You have been invited to take part in a study regarding attitudes towards offenders.
Before you take part, it is important for you to understand what the study will involve.

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Please read the following information to help decide whether you wish to take part.
We will be happy to discuss any further questions regarding this study, thank you.

What is the purpose of the study?

This study aims to explore factors that may affect attitudes towards offenders, in the
hope that the findings will lead to insights into jury decision making and an
understanding of stigma toward different types of offenders.

Why have I been chosen?

The only requirement for this study is that you are over the age of 18, anybody who
fits into this demographic is eligible to take part in this study.

Do I have to take part?

This study is completely voluntary. If you decide to take part, you will be required to
sign a consent form, however you are still able to withdraw at any point during your
participation in the study and up to 7 days following, using your unique code (see
below), without reasoning.

What will happen if I decide to take part?

Following this information sheet, you will be required to complete a consent form.
Then you will be asked some demographics questions such as age, gender and
experience with mental health. You will also be asked to create a 5-character unique
code which will be remembered in order to be able to have your data withdrawn after
completing the study. Providing you are of the required age, you will then need to read
the vignette (a brief description) of a fictional offender. This is followed by short
questionnaire asking you for your views of the offender. Please answer honestly; there
are no right or wrong answers. After completing the study, you will be provided with a
debrief form containing further information and contact information. This should take
about 10 minutes to complete.

What are the potential benefits and risks of taking part?

Though there are no direct benefits of you taking part in the study, you will help us in
understanding attitudes towards offenders which may give ideas for future research
and help to remove some of the stigma towards different types of offenders.

There are no risks involved in completing this study, participants are welcome to take
a break during the study at any point and can withdraw if they feel the need to end
their participation. Contact information is given below for any possible questions or
concerns.

Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?

All data and information about the study will be kept confidential. The data will be
stored on a secure server in a password protected folder and will only be available to
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those in the research team directly involved in the study. You are not required to give
your name when completing the study and will not be able to be identified in any
results or reports, any identifying information will be removed prior to analysis.

What if I have a problem or concern?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this study, please contact the project
supervisor or the researcher and we will do our best to answer any questions. Contact
information is provided below. For concerns regarding the research being undertaken
at the University of Wolverhampton, please contact the research integrity leads.

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed by the faculty of health education and wellbeing ethics
committee.

Contact for further information

Please contact the project supervisor or researcher if you require any further
information regarding this study-

Researcher:
An Other An.Other@wlv.ac.uk
Supervisor:
S Freud S.Freud@wlv.ac.uk

If you wish to raise concerns regarding research being undertaken by the University
you may wish to contact the research integrity leads in the first instance.
The senior lead for research integrity is the Dean of Research - Professor Silke
Machold
The administrative lead is the Research Integrity Manager - Miss Jill Morgan

Alternatively, the University of Wolverhampton has incorporated its policies and

procedures for Anti-Bribery, Staff Interests, Fraud, and Whistleblowing into one
Transparency Policy https://www.wlv.ac.uk/about-us/governance/legal-information/
corporate-compliance/transparency/. Please report any concerns to
transparency@wlv.ac.uk

Appendix B:

CONSENT FORM

Please tick boxes

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 1. I confirm that I have read and understood the information sheet
provided and have had the opportunity to ask questions via email.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free

to withdraw my data up to 7 days after submission without giving any reason

3. I understand that my data will be stored securely and confidentially

and that I will not be identifiable in any report or publication.

4. I agree to take part in the above study and allow my data to be analysed.

Appendix C:

Demographics Form

1. What age did you turn on your last birthday?

2. What is your gender?

A. Male
B. Female
C. Other _____________
D. Prefer not to say

3. Have you or anyone you know been diagnosed with a mental health condition?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Prefer not to say

4. You will be able to withdraw your data up to 7 days after participating in this
study.
Please create a unique 5-character code to identify your data if you wish to
withdraw.
(E.G. It is recommended that you use the first 3 characters from your postcode and
last 2 digits from your mobile phone number). Please ensure you remember this
code to be able to withdraw your data.

Please enter your unique ID here:

Appendix D:

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 Vignettes and Questions

 Male with mental health condition

Andrew is 24 years
old and has struggled  Male with no mental health condition
with his mental
health for the past Andrew is 24 years  Female with mental health
few years. He has old. He has condition
maintained good maintained good Emma is 24 years old
relationships with his relationships with his and has struggled
family over the family and friends with her mental Female
years, however, has over the years. health for the past with no
struggled to hold Recently on a night few years. She has mental
friendships. A few out for an old friends’ maintained good health
months ago, Andrew birthday, Andrew relationships with condition
visited the doctors became engaged in her family over the
after suffering from an argument with a years, however, has Emma is 24 yea
delusions and stranger. The struggled to hold family and frien
becoming argument escalated friendships. A few friends’ birthda
uninterested in and ended with months ago, Emma stranger. The a
activities he used to Andrew violently visited the doctors assaulting this
enjoy to which he assaulting this after suffering from
was diagnosed with person. delusions and
schizophrenia and becoming
 Ho
put on medication. uninterested in
w responsible is
Andrew’s behaviour activities she used to
[Andrew/Emma] for their
can often be enjoy to which she
actions?
unpredictable and was diagnosed with
Not at all responsible Completely responsible
has been struggling schizophrenia and
with this recent put on medication.
5
1
diagnosis. Recently Emma’s behaviour
on a night out for an  In your opinion, can often be how
old friends’ birthday, likely is it that unpredictable and
Andrew became [Andrew/Emma] has been struggling will
engaged in an reoffend? with this recent
argument with a Extremely Unlikely diagnosis. Recently
Extremely likely
stranger. The on a night out for an
argument escalated 5 birthday,
old friends’
and ended with 1 Emma became
Andrew violently engaged in an
assaulting this  How dangerous argument with a do you
person. think stranger. The
[Andrew/Emma] argument escalated is?
Not at all dangerous Extremely
and ended with dangerous
5 Emma violently
1 assaulting this 10
person.
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  Should [Andrew/Emma] receive a prison sentence?

Yes No

If yes, how long should this sentence be? (sliding scale of years and months)

Appendix E:

Debrief Sheet

Thank you for taking part in this study. This study was conducted to explore the
publics attitudes towards offenders in relation to mental health and gender.

Background to the study

The criminal justice system is a highly researched area, however certain groups of
people are still overrepresented in the criminal justice system due to negative
perceptions of these groups. These perceptions can have a negative effect on the
groups of individuals as a whole for example; social isolation and difficulties in
employment. This study aims to add more research into this area and give ideas for
future research in order to combat the stigmatisation of certain groups in the criminal
justice system.

What are the aims of this study?

The aim of this study was to see how the presence of a mental health conditions
affects the publics attitudes towards offenders. This study also aimed to see whether
gender had an effect on publics attitudes towards offenders.

Data storage and right to withdraw

Participant’s data will be stored on a secure server. All data will remain on a locked
computer in a password protected folder.

All participants will be able to withdraw up to 7 days after completing the study. We
will require participants to provide us with their unique code which we will be able to
identify their data to remove it from the data set.

Sources of support

If you are a student at the University of Wolverhampton you can access support via
mental health and wellbeing
https://www.wlv.ac.uk/current-students/student-support/mental-health-and-wellbeing-
advice/

If you are not a student at the University of Wolverhampton you can find out about
mental health support here
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https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-in-mental-health-applying-all-
our-health/wellbeing-in-mental-health-applying-all-our-health

Contact information

If you have any questions regarding the study and wish to contact someone then
please feel free to contact the project supervisor or the researcher.

Researcher:
An Other An.Other@wlv.ac.uk
Supervisor:
S Freud S.Freud@wlv.ac.uk

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Section Five
Confirmation of Ethical Approval and Feedback on Submission
TO BE COMPLETED AS INDICATED, BY MODULE LEADER, SUPERVISOR AND/OR HEAD OF ETHICS PANEL

Submission Number:
Date of Review:

Identified Category
On behalf of members of staff and students, I can confirm that the proposal for research being made by the above
student/member of staff is

Checklist required for Category B Proposals:

Outline summary: rationale and expected benefits from the study, with a statement of what the researcher is Yes/No
proposing to do and how
Explanation of the methodology to be used Yes/No
An information sheet and copy of a consent form to be used with subjects Yes/No
Details of how information will be kept Yes/No
Details of how results will be fed back to participants Yes/No
Letter of consent from any collaborating institutions Yes/No
Letter of consent from head of institution wherein any research activity will take place Yes/No

Decision
I confirm that the proposal for research being made by the above student/member of staff is
A category A proposal and that they may now continue with the proposed research activity. The applicant can
continue with the study as detailed in the proposal. However, any subsequent changes should be submitted to the
Ethics Committee.

Comments and Feedback:

Proposed Actions:

For a student’s proposal: Name of module leader or supervisor giving approval

For a member of staff’s proposal: Name of Head of Ethics Panel giving approval: Click here to enter name.

Signed (This form must have a valid signature):

Date:

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