The experiences of people who sell or exchange sex and their interaction with support services: lived experience engagement

Appendix C: Facilitated Survey Participant Information

Participant Information Sheet

Lived Experience Engagement: the experience of adults who sell or exchange sex and their
interaction with support services

You are invited to take part in a research project. Before you decide whether or not you would like to participate, it is important that you read the information provided below. This will help you to understand why and how the research is being carried out and what participation will involve. Please let the worker who gave you this information know if you have any questions.

Who is conducting the research?

This research is being conducted by LKJ Research, a research organisation, on behalf of Scottish Government. The project lead is Laura Jones (laura@lkjresearch.com1. and the research assistants are Emma Craig and Katerina Mentzou.

Who is funding the research?

This research is commissioned and funded by Scottish Government.

What is the purpose of the research?

This research aims to understand how people who sell sex experience engaging with mainstream and specialist services in Scotland. This includes identifying barriers to access.

The research also aims to gather views on future service design.

Why have I been invited to take part?

You have been invited to take part because you have sold sex in Scotland or, have experience of selling sex elsewhere and currently live in Scotland or, have experience of seeking support for selling sex from services in Scotland.

We are specifically looking to speak to adults who have exchanged in-person physical sexual contact for money, goods, or services (including protection, rent, reduction of a parking fine etc.)

Do I have to take part?

No. Taking part in this study is voluntary and choosing not to take part will not impact on your support or service access in any way. You may decide to stop the study at any time without explanation and without penalty• simply stop answering the questions and do not press done or submit. The research team will not see any information you have entered until that point. Once you press submit you cannot withdraw from the study because your answers will be stored with all the others, and there will be no way of identifying which were yours.

What will happen if I take part?

Your participation will involve completing a survey with the help of a worker. The questions are related to your personal experiences of services in Scotland. You are asked not to give any personal details or include anything that could be used to identify you, or anyone else.

The amount of time the research takes will vary depending on how much you want to say, but it i likely to take approximately 30 minutes.

Are there any risks in taking part?

For some people, answering questions about personal experiences an caused discomfort. Your participation is completely voluntary, and you are free to stop at any time. If you feel uncomfortable after participating in this study, please let the worker at the service you accessed the survey know. If you would prefer you may consider contacting one of the support services listed here:

www.encompassnetwork.info

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

This research has been commissioned by Scottish Government, and the results will be fed back to the teams responsible for future policy recommendations.

As a thank you for sharing your time and experiences, you will receive a £20 Tesco voucher (or
equivalent where this would impact on your benefits). You will be eligible for the voucher when you
submit the survey.

Will my taking part in this project be kept confidential?

Yes. Nobody except the worker you complete the survey with will know you have taken part. The
research team will not collect any identifying information about you in the study, so we will never
know who you are.

What will happen to the information I provide?

Your data will be collected using the software SurveyMonkey and be accessible only to the immediate research team. When data collection is complete, we will download the data and keep it on a secure cloud-based storage system (OneDrive) where it will be encrypted, and password protected. In the event that any personal or identifying data is included in received responses, it will be immediately securely deleted and replaced with an anonymised version. The anonymous data will be stored for at least 6 months and may be shared on OneDrive among the research team. A weekly backup of data will be stored on the lead researchers encrypted and password protectedlaptop, and on an encrypted and password protected USB drive, which will be kept in a locked drawer for the project duration and then securely deleted. This will allow restoration of the data in the event of an incident. Following the completion of the research project a copy of the anonymised data will be provided to Scottish Government.

Your data will always be anonymous. The results from the study will shared with the Scottish Government and may be used in other research outputs. This includes direct quotes taken from what you have inputted in the survey - in all cases these will be thoroughly checked to make sure you cannot be identified. The final report will be published online by Scottish Government. You can alternatively obtain a copy of the results by emailing Laura Jones (laura@lkjresearch.com).

As the data is anonymous, there will be no potential to update, access, erase, or limit the use of your information once it has been submitted, as it will not be possible to identify your responses in the data set. We are happy to discuss that with you. Please contact Laura Jones (laura@lkjresearch.com)

All data will be processed in line with UKG DPR Requirements.

Is there someone I can complain to?

If you have any complaints or concerns about how this research has been conducted, please contact Laura Jones (laura@lkjresearch.com)