Informed Consent

The Informed Consent should include basic information about the research project as well as the PI contact information. Subjects must be informed about the purpose of the research, potential benefits and, most importantly, risks they agree to undertake.

Volunteers must be aware that they may stop participating at any time and that the withdrawal will not be penalized in any way. Also, if they experience any sort of distress during the research project, they may need to know the Counseling Center information. Should the volunteers have any questions about the research, the consent form is a place to provide the faculty sponsor and the IRB reviewer's contact information.

All of that must be written in a simple language that is understandable to volunteers of various backgrounds, including those for whom English is a second language. When creating a consent form, remember to avoid professional, academic terminology.

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There is no one-fits-all informed consent sample. The content of the consent letter varies depending on the method and the weight of the data collection.

The consent form should not be more complex than the research itself. The consent letters are suitable for a research project that involves intervention or questions of a heavy, serious nature. For a simple survey that does not really require a letter; a simple sentence should suffice.

Example of a simple consent form:

"By selecting the “Agree” button below, you indicate that you are at least 18 and that you voluntarily participate in this survey"

Sample Consent Forms and Faculty Letters

Feel free to download and adjust to your needs the sample consent form posted below. For online surveys, please refer to the Online Survey Consent Form.

Online Surveys

For online surveys, please refer to the Online Survey Consent Form

For more information, consider the following articles