description
With the rise of technology usage, there is also a rise in cybercrime. Research indicates that the consequences of cybercrime for victims are comparable to crimes committed offline. Victims experience feelings of guilt and shame, feel angry and frustrated, experience stress and fear. They also experience loss of control, trust and safety. What is not entirely clear yet, is if victims of cybercrime also experience the same needs.
Some of the needs that victims of offline crimes have, is a need for information from the offender and to come in contact with the offender. Is this also true for victims of cybercrime, since these crimes often involve anonymous offenders. Do victims want to know who the offender is?
Since cybercrime is remote and the offender can even live in a different country, it is often difficult to catch the offender. Even when victims have a need to come in contact with the offender, this is sometimes impossible. What might be a solution here are virtual reality agents. Possibly, by interacting with virtual avatars representing the offenders, might restore victim’s needs.
Research question
Different research questions are possible in this project, depending on your interest. For example: What needs do victims of (different) cybercrimes have? Are victims of cybercrime willing to participate in mediation and why?
Research method
An (online) experiment seems to be the most obvious way to answer the research question.
Data-analysis
Depending on the type of data that has been collected. For quantitative data, programs such as R will be used. For qualitative data Atlas.ti can be used.
INFORMATION
Please contact Lynn Weiher (l.weiher@utwente.nl) when you are interested in this assignment. The assignment is open to two students.
Literature
Boom, A. T., Kuijpers, K. F., & Moene, M. (2008). Behoeften van slachtoffers van delicten: Een systematische literatuurstudie naar behoeften zoals door slachtoffers zelf geuit [Needs of victims: a systematic literature study into the needs as indicated by victims]. WODC
Borwell, J., Jansen, J., & Stol, W. (2021). Comparing the victimization impact of cybercrime and traditional crime: Literature review and future research directions. Journal of Digital Social Research, 3(3), 85-110.
Freitas, J. R. S., Velosa, V. H. S., Abreu, L. T. N., Jardim, R. L., Santos, J. A. V., Peres, B., & Campos, P. F. (2021). Virtual Reality Exposure Treatment in Phobias: a Systematic Review. Psychiatric Quarterly, 92(4), 1685-1710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-021-09935-6