how does social categorisation theory affect the type of support bystanders provide to female domestic abuse victims?

This research aims to identify the role of Social Categorisation in predicting and mobilising online and offline support for female domestic abuse victims in the UK, Pakistan, South Africa, Northern Ireland and Poland.

Due to the extensive nature of the novel topic, this research will be split into five different studies.

Participants will be university students attending a specific institution in the five different countries where the research will be carried out. Participants will be required to complete online questionnaires following a link/s sent to them through their gatekeeper, social media and the researcher. Participants will be required to first fill in the adapted questionnaires (from the chosen scales) and then watch a short CCTV footage or read hypothetical scenarios around domestic abuse before choosing how they would offer support to the victim based on manipulated variables.

Although the data collection will take place at the same time for all the studies and then follow separate analysis. Basic questions will be asked of the participants before they carry out the individual studies to identify their social categories. Main data collected will be age, gender, background, how they identify with their background, nationality and economical questions. After this, the participants will be referred to the various study links as below:

The participants will not be completing all the study links. Instead they will be provided with the separate study links for the study they are required to take part in. For example, an individual who is interested in participating in the study, will be provided with information about the first study and then be redirected using a link to Study 1. For clarity, one pool of participants will be recruited for Study 1 and then a different set of participants for Study 2 and so on. To ensure we are recruiting a different set of participants for each study link, students from various departments at the various institutions will be recruited (e.g., Study Link 1 will be for Psychology students and Study Link 2 will be for Engineering students).

When the studies are uploaded on to the online system Qualtrics (online surveys will be set not to collect IP addresses), a setting will be input in there to ensure a random study is chosen for the participants. To ensure the participants do not complete all the study links, they will be provided with a textual warning before participation.

Research Team

Aelia Zaidi (PhD Student,  Liverpool John Moores University)

Professor Marek Palace  (Liverpool John Moores University)

Professor Jennifer Chopra (Liverpool John Moores University

Dr Gemma Trainor (University of Salford)