Despite ending data collection for the original SRL Study in December 2012, we have not stopped hearing from SRLs on a daily basis at the NSRLP. Within a few months of the end of the formal study, we created a self-complete “Intake Form” which asked for basic information – for example court, education, income, experience with counsel, access to pro bono legal services/ duty counsel, use of Internet resources – from all SRLs who wanted to be a part of our database. In addition to providing us with important baseline information about their experience, these SRLs can be added to our Speakers Bank and may also be asked to participate in policy groups, user testing for new SRL resources, and new research studies.
Now Research Assistant Erin Chesney (Windsor Law 2) has created an on-line version of the self-complete SRL Intake Form in Survey Monkey. The Intake Form link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NSRLP2014 is being sent to every SRL who contacts us, with a note from Erin asking them to consider completing the form on-line. Erin’s note says, “It is through people such as yourself wo are willing to share their stories that this project has been able to bring the self-represented litigant phenomenon to greater public attention. We appreciate your willingness to share your story.”
Erin is also writing to anyone who has contacted the NSRLP in the last year as a SRL but has not yet completed an Intake Form; and she is inputting all our existing Intake Forms into the program. This will enable us to provide regular reports on the data we continue to collect from SRLs.
If you are a SRL, and would like to become a part of our database in order to help us continue to gather information about the SRL experience, please write to Erin at https://representingyourselfcanada.com/contact-us/ or simply go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NSRLP2014 to complete the Intake Form.