Supporting data for "Between Rights and Risks: Legal Consciousness, Mobilization, and Social Control in Anti-Sexual-Harassment Disputes in Chinese Universities"

This dataset supports a qualitative doctoral research project titled "Between Rights and Risks: Legal Consciousness, Mobilization, and Social Control in Anti-Sexual-Harassment Disputes in Chinese Universities." The study investigates how university students in China develop legal consciousness and engage in legal mobilization when confronting sexual harassment, as well as the institutional dynamics that shape their experiences and outcomes.Data were collected through two primary methods: (1) in-depth semi-structured interviews with victims/survivors of sexual harassment in Chinese universities, and (2) participant observation (including digital ethnography) of anti-sexual-harassment dispute cases. To understand the institutional context in which students navigate these disputes—and why they are treated the way they are—additional interviews were conducted with key institutional actors who interact directly with students, including police officers, responsible tutors (university counsellors/advisors), and university security guards.The final interview dataset includes 48 student participants (44 female, 4 male) across 39 independent sexual harassment cases. Of these 39 cases, 35 were reported to the university or the police; 4 were unreported. Participants were predominantly undergraduates and master’s students aged 18 to 25, including both victims and advocates who actively participated in mobilization.Fieldwork was conducted between May 2022 and Mar 2026 and received ethics approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of The University of Hong Kong (reference number: EA220392). The dataset comprises: unedited interview audio recordings; interview transcripts; interview question lists (for both victim/survivor interviewees and institutional actor interviewees); fieldwork reflection notes; archived digital materials including evidence screenshots, news reports, and participants' online statements; a master spreadsheet summarizing all interviewees and observed cases with their corresponding pseudonyms used in the thesis; and collected reference materials such as university disciplinary regulations and crowdsourced case compilations.All interviewees are anonymized in the research and assigned pseudonyms, unless the case in question originates from publicly available news reports. Researchers seeking to reuse or cite this dataset should observe strict ethical protocols given the sensitive nature of the subject matter and the personal information involved.