Active & Passive Consent

What is the difference between active and passive consent? 

Active consent of the student participant requires that the student (or parent/guardian if the participant is under 18 years of age) actively agrees to participate in the research. This means that the student's family has received a letter and has completed and returned a written form giving consent for participation.  

Example: A community organization wants to evaluate a new science curriculum with a family engagement component, with 8th grade students scoring below average on Science MCAs. Researchers would used active consent for this subset of 8th grade students, for student and family participation.

Passive consent means that all students families have received a letter describing the research/evaluation activities.  All students will participate in the research (as part of regular classes) unless they opt-out of research activities and/or data collection. 

Example: Researchers want to gain student feedback the new ethnic studies requirement, in all 9th and 11th grade social studies classes.  Researchers would send home a passive consent form, stating that students will be participating as part of class, and parents have the option to opt out of any data collection.  Students whose parents opt-out will still participate in class feedback sessions, but no data will be collected (surveys, direct feedback, etc).  

What is required in the consent form?

Consent materials must to be translated into the preferred language of all families/students participating. All consent forms must include the following sections:

• Study Purpose/Program Description

• What participation looks like

• Risks and Benefits

• Data Collected: (if applicable, describe the data elements that will be requested from REA) 

• Confidentiality/Anonymity Protections (indicate how the researcher will keep this information confidential)

• Study/Researcher Contact Information

• Voluntary Participation/Conditions of withdrawal

Per MPS Policy, incentives cannot be used, and cannot be mentioned on any forms or marketing materials.