Title of study: Examining the relationship between self-compassion and social and emotional intelligence: does resilience have a mediation effect?

Name of researchers: Emily Butcher and Roger Bretherton

LEAS ethics code: 2024_17465

Contact details of the researchers are given at the end.

The study aims to investigate the relationship between self-compassion, resilience, and emotional intelligence, whilst enquiring if there is a mediation effect of resilience on emotional intelligence.

The study aims to do this through using an online questionnaire which is comprised of three scales which will measure each of the aforementioned variables. The study will also ask for demographic details such as gender and age.

You are eligible to take part if you are 18 years of age or older, and if you have a good comprehension of written English.

Participation is completely voluntary. You should only take part if you want to and choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you.

You will be asked to complete one online questionnaire administered via Question Pro which should take around 10 minutes. Your responses to the questionnaire will be recorded, while we will collect demographic details, no identifiable information will be asked, therefore responses will be anonymous. 

You will be asked to complete three validated questionnaires, first, The Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (Schutte et al., 1998), then the Grit Scale by Duckworth et al. (2007). Finally, the Self-compassion scale short form (Raes et al., 2001) will be presented.

There are no monetary incentives to take part.

The current study’s aims to investigate the relationship between self-compassion, resilience, and emotional intelligence. A further aim is to examine if resilience is a mediator within this relationship.

The current study’s aims are yet to be examined within empirical research; therefore you could help reveal a potential relationship. This has positive implications towards society, as emotional intelligence impacts life satisfaction and metal health stigma.

There are no expected disadvantages to take part as the study does not include deception or any obviously distressing themes.

Survey responses will be handled confidentially, responses are anonymous so no one will know you have taken part.

The data obtained from the study will be stored securely on the university OneDrive in password protected files. Only the researcher/researchers will have access to it. The data from this study may be put in an Open Access repository for other researchers to use in future research. If so, responses will be anonymised and any personal data (e.g., contact details) will be removed.

You are free to stop your participation at any time throughout the survey by closing the browser or window you are using to complete the questionnaire.

Once you have completed the survey and submitted your response, it will not be possible to remove your data. This is because your responses will be anonymous so we cannot identify your responses.

However, if you stop participating before completing and submitting your responses, your partial responses will be deleted and not included in data analysis.

The results of the research are being analysed and written up for a thesis as a requirement for the University of Lincoln’s MSc Counselling programme.

This research is being conducted by the University of Lincoln, no funding has been obtained for this research.

All research conducted by the University of Lincoln is looked at by an independent group, called a Research Ethics Committee, named LEAS to protect your interests.

If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, you should ask to speak to the researchers, who will do their best to answer your questions. The researchers’ contact details are given at the end of this information sheet. If you remain unhappy and wish to complain formally, you can do this by contacting ethics@lincoln.ac.uk.

Lead Researcher – Emily Butcher (19699203@students.lincoln.ac.uk)

Supervisor – Roger Bretherton (rbretherton@lincoln.ac.uk)

The University of Lincoln is the lead organisation for this study and will be the data controller for this study. This means that we are responsible for looking after your information and using it properly.

The university’s Research Participant Privacy Notice (https://ethics.lincoln.ac.uk/research-privacy-notice/) explains how we will be using information from you in order to undertake this study.

If you feel that we have let you down in relation to your information rights then please contact the Information Compliance Team by email on compliance@lincoln.ac.uk or by post at Information Compliance, Secretariat, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, LN6 7TS.

You can also make complaints directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the independent authority upholding information rights for the UK. Their website is ico.org.uk and their telephone helpline number is 0303 123 1113.