Initials Video Release Consent Letter Made Easy

Alberta consent form

hello this video is to write guidance and how to create consent documents for your research study first we'll discuss the differences between different types of consent then we'll go through the necessary elements of consent and give you tips on information you'll need to include you can find more information at the OSU IRB website which appears below you can also find a copy of the consent templates and further guidance on the website why consent the purpose of consent is to help participants make an informed decision about whether or not to participate in your research study participants have the right to know what they're getting into by participating in your study they should know upfront what the time commitment will be and what the general procedures will be they should have a clear understanding of the risks and benefits of participating in the research it should also be clear who participants should contact if they have questions before or after the study the consent form is the standard document used to obtain consent participants are typically given a hard copy of the form and asked to read and sign the document a waiver of consent documentation is used when the IRB determines that you do not need to have a participant signature to indicate that they were consented the information included in the consent process is typically similar to the consent form for example in an online study they may click a button to indicate consent rather than providing a signature in this case you would want to seek a waiver of consent documentation a waiver of consent is granted when an IRB determines that it is not necessary to consent participants although rare these waivers can be granted for situations such as a study in which you're observing public behavior an alteration of consent is granted when the IRB determines that the study could not be conducted in a valid manner if participants knew all the details of the research before the study for example or if your design uses some form of deception you apply for an alteration of consent after the study you should provide additional information through debriefing and give participants the opportunity to withdraw their data from the study to get started we recommend downloading the consent template from the OSU IRB website due to federal state and university policies as well as changes in research practices the template changes over time it's helpful to get the most up-to-date document from the website because old consent forms you've used for other studies may be out of date after you've downloaded the template we strongly recommend not removing the default template language this information is there because it reflects mandatory elements of consent that must be communicated to participants a final reminder about language as you're filling out your consent form with information about your study think about your intended audience try to use common language that your participants will understand avoid jargon and complex sentences think about writing this at an eighth grade reading level so first at the top you'll see this is clearly labeled as a consent document you have three things to fill out a study title the researcher and the sponsor the study title should match the name that you have put at the top of your IRB application if you want to add something like study 1 or study 2 in parentheses to help for your record-keeping feel free to do so when choosing a title you may want to avoid sensitizing participants - the nature of your study as the researcher includes the PI's name and any other affiliated researchers that you feel should be included here as for the sponsor you should list a sponsor if your study is being funded by a grant or an agency or company this needs to be disclosed clearly at the top of the document the default language at the top of the firm serves two purposes and a required elements of consent don't remove this language first it informs participants that the purpose of the study is research second it tells participants that they are not required to participate in the research and that they may end participation at any time if you're using a consent form you will include the language about asking to sign the form and will receive a copy of the form if you're conducting an online study you may revise the statement to say that participants should save or print a copy for their records and that they will be asked to click to move forward the next section is the purpose in this section you need to give a brief explanation of why your study is being conducted be sure to use language that participants will understand you don't have to provide a list of your exact hypotheses but participants need to be informed of the general purpose so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not they want to participate in your study next section are the procedures or tasks involved in the research in this section give a general overview of what people will be doing in the study keep in mind this only includes activities specific to the research for example if you're going to give students a questionnaire after a lecture that they would have attended anyway regardless of your research the research activity only includes the questionnaire not the lecture specify if there are multiple parts or procedures within the study and the procedures be sure to include any details that may affect people's willingness to participate in your research study some examples may include the presence of sensitive questions or topics the use of stimuli images videos or scenarios that may be controversial graphic offensive or otherwise uncomfortable if people will be audio or video taped and if medical records educational records or other private materials will be accessed the next section is duration in this section state the overall time commitment of the research activity if there are activities that they are engaging in regardless of the research do not count that time for example if you are surveying people before and after an event they had already planned on attending you would only count the time it takes for your surveys not for the event itself if there are multiple points of data collection it's helpful to break this down for example you may have an online pretest that takes 15 minutes and a lab experiment that lasts one hour for a total of one hour and 15 minutes make sure the duration matches what you have reported in your main application and recruitment materials finally leave the default language that appears here in your description of the duration this reminds participants that they may terminate participation in the study at any time risks and benefits in this section you'll describe the risks and benefits of participating in your research keep in mind everything described here should match what you put in the main IRB application remember there is never no risk for participation risks can be described as minimal or the same as in everyday life for benefits keep in mind that incentives such as payment do not count as benefits if there are no benefits to participants simply state that there are no direct benefits from participation you can still describe other benefits such as benefits to society for online data collection you can discuss the risks of data breach here or below in the confidentiality section confidentiality the purpose of this section is to inform participants who may have access to their data from the research study retain the default language here as it reflects existing regulations regarding who may have access to participants data outside of the research team when describing your confidentiality practices here are a few tips first it's best not to refer to data as anonymous because many types of data contain identifiable details even if someone's name is not directly attached to it for example video recordings are clearly identifiable also data collected online is never anonymous as online transmissions are connected to identifiable IP addresses second do not guarantee confidentiality third if you want to offer some assurances to your participants you can provide information about names or identifying information being removed from the data alternatively you can fry it information about how the data will be handled for example you may clarify if names are being collected separately from the data or if you will be destroying video recordings after transcription or data analysis a final note if you're using focus groups in your study in this case you should mention here that participants should be mindful of what they share in the focus group you should instruct focus group members to respect the confidentiality of other participants but obviously this is outside of the researchers control thus be sure to inform participants that a breach of confidentiality could occur incentives incentives are payments or gifts for participating in the study incentives should appear in this section not when describing benefits of participation when describing incentives do not state that they are tied to completing the study participants cannot be compelled to complete a research study us do not use any language indicating participants must complete part or all of the study in order to receive the incentive if you're not providing incentives for your sub study simply state the if you're not providing incentives for your study simply include a statement that no incentives are offered for participation if you're appropriating your incentives be clear about what incentive is received participation in each part of the study for example if participants will earn $15 total prorated across two parts of the study clarify that they will earn five dollars for participation in part one and ten dollars for participation in part two participant writes the language here is to remind participants of the voluntary nature of the research leave this section untouched unless you wish to add a sentence about skipping or not answering questions for example in an online survey contacts and questions in this section be sure to include the name of the appropriate contact from your research team as well as a phone number or email this does not necessarily have to be the PI but it should be someone who is on your IRB application as part of that research team final section is the signature section you do not need to alter anything in this section if you are using a consent form if you are using this online and using a waiver of consent documentation you will remove the signature blanks you have two options in Qualtrics for example you can require participants to respond to an item before proceeding to the survey you could identify two buttons yes I consent to participate or no I do not wish to participate in the study the yes option would continue to the next page whereas the no option could terminate the survey alternatively you can make a statement the participants should click the forward button to indicate consent and proceed with the study or that they may close the browser if they do not wish to participate