Category: research

person holding a phone that's showing the Tik Tok app

The TikTok Study is a research project focused on the experiences of survivors who have chosen to name the person who harmed them using social media publicly. We want to understand what influenced their decision, as well as the emotional and personal impacts of naming them and sharing their story.

Exploring the intersectional complexities when using social media to identify perpetrators of gender-based violence (The Tik Tok Study).

This study has received ethics approval from Mount Royal University’s Human Research Ethics Board. For any questions related to ethics, contact hreb@mtroyal.ca

To contact the team, email Leanna lireland@mtroyal.ca or Scharie at stavcer@mtroyal.ca

If you’re interested in participating, please email: tiktokstudymru@gmail.com

What’s Involved

We’re interested in learning more about your experiences. We aim to understand what influenced your decision to speak out, as well as the emotional and personal impact of sharing your story publicly. We will not ask you any questions about the harm itself. And you don’t have to re-tell your story.

You must be 18 years or older and currently reside in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, or a country within the European Union. If you live outside these regions, please let us know, as you may still be eligible to participate depending on local laws.

Participants are recruited from TikTok and asked to participate in a 45–60-minute interview, which will be audio recorded. You must be able to converse in English. Interview questions can be found here.

If you’re interested in participating, please email: tiktokstudymru@gmail.com

 

timeline of the project from start in Spring 2025 and end in Spring 2026

The Team

Leanna Ireland: I’m an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Program at Mount Royal University. My dissertation research explored how people respond to societal injustices, including how and why they share their own stories on social media. I’m passionate about understanding the many ways people speak out and take action, often through digital spaces. I feel fortunate to do this work and to learn from the strength and insight of the people and communities I connect with. Outside of work, I enjoy biking, baking vegetables into sweets, and always having a book on the go.

D. Scharie Tavcer: I’m an Associate Professor in the Criminal Justice Degree Program at MRU, and I’ve taught here for over 20 years. I’m passionate about social justice issues specific to gender-based violence, criminal law and sentencing, and reintegration. Having studied sexual violence for years, my focus is on consent education and the importance of including the voices of those with lived experience. I’m the daughter of European immigrants who came to Canada in the 1960s, and I’m proud of that heritage. I acknowledge the people indigenous to this land, I’m an ally to the 2SLGBTTIQ+ community, and I speak loudly when I see injustice to marginalised peoples. I have a teenager and a cuddly labradoodle, and I love movies, books, and sleep.

Research Assistant: Arianna D’Alfonso, 3rd year student in the Criminal Justice Degree Program at MRU. Arianna is a motivated, driven, and compassionate student who has a strong academic background in trauma-informed care, gender-based violence, and research methods. She’s passionate about amplifying survivor voices and learning more about intersectionality and the gender-based violence experience. She’s eager to explore the experiences of those who use social media as a tool to speak out about their previous experiences with violence. 

D. Scharie Tavcer and Vicky Dobkins.

This book published by Routledge, is the culmination of three years of research into sexual violence policies and sexual consent education at post-secondary institutions across Canada. The prevalence of sexual violence has not changed in more than 30 years, and its reporting to police or school authorities has only waxed and waned over those years. In response, this book asks what can be done differently to reduce the number of victims and potential perpetrators?

In Canada and United States, approximately one in three women over the age of 15 has experienced sexual assault during her lifetime (Benoit et al., 2015; Cantalupo, 2011; Fisher et al., 2000; Holland & Cortina, 2017; Karjane et al., 2002; Krebs et al., 2007; Tjaden & Thoeness, 2000; United States Department of Justice, 2017). Despite, one in five women and one in 16 men being sexually assaulted during their stay at a post-secondary institution (PSI) (Fisher et al., 2000), more than 90% of sexual assault victims do not report the assault to school authorities (Krebs et al., 2007; Krebs et al., 2016). The lack of reporting by PSI students is consistent with general Canadian and American statistics that reveal that only 1 in 10 acts of sexual violence is reported to police officials (Brennan and Taylor-Butts, 2008; Department of Justice, 2017). And furthermore, those statistics have not changed in decades. As a result of these facts, I want to explore what can be done differently – what can PSIs do to reduce the numbers of victims and potential perpetrators too.

The first aspect was an environmental scan of over 120 PSIs across Canada to collate what consent-based education they offer and how it is delivered (in person, online, mandatory etc.). Next, I conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews with students at two PSIs (one in AB and the other in NB). In addition, I interviewed staff at these institutions (residence, security, sexual violence coordinators etc.). And I also held a focus group with sexual health educator experts from the Calgary community. Among other questions, I asked students to define consent and to identify what consent education exists at their university and who receives the education. And I asked them if consent education should be mandatory and if it should be mandatory for everyone on campus, not just students but for faculty, staff, and administrators. 

The Consent 101 online module is one of the outcomes from my three-year research project about sexual consent education at post-secondary institutions across Canada. 

To get the book.

To access the Consent 101 module, click this link to be redirected. FYI: There are a couple of portions in draft form. 

The research project was about sexual violence policies and sexual consent education at post-secondary institutions across Canada. Because the prevalence of sexual violence has not changed in more than 30 years, and its reporting to police or school authorities has only waxed and waned over those years. I queried what can be done differently to reduce the number of victims and potential perpetrators? To answer those questions I conducted an environmental scan of over 120 post-secondary institutions (PSIs) across Canada as well as a deeper analysis of seven that also included student and staff experiences and opinions. The three-year project captured over 160 student voices and over 20 sexual violence staff and subject experts. The project concluded with a proposed online sexual consent education module, including its strengths and limitations, as a point of discussion for PSIs to include into their sexual violence prevention education repertoire

CCLISAR screenshotNew research by Dr. Irene Shankar and Dr. D. Scharie Tavcer finds that despite members’ intentions, the committees that construct post-secondary institutions’ sexual violence policies  lack essential expertise and produce flawed results. 

READ the article published with the Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy

Dr. Tavcer asks what can be done differently to reduce the prevalence of sexual violence on campus, especially in the face of dwindling budgets and lack of access to programs and services.

She shares details about her study on sexual consent education across Canada and the online consent education module she’s developed.

Read the full write up here: https://www.couragetoact.ca/blog/sexualconsenteducation