Internet Research
If you are planning on using the internet to
obtain research data, you will want to review the guidelines listed below.
Guidelines for Conducting Web-Based Survey Research (this material was originally presented on the
1. General: In addition to
the information requested in the Human Subjects Review Form or Exempt
Certification Form, researchers must address the following:
a. State how subjects will be recruited.
(See Schmidt (Appendix
E) for more information on publicizing a Web survey).
b. State that the survey is part of a research
project. Researchers need to explicitly state this information in both the
survey's introductory page/screen and in the informed consent information.
Researchers may want to add a hyperlink to their institution on the
introductory page/screen to demonstrate their affiliation.
c. State contact information. This can be
accomplished by placing email links to the researcher(s) throughout the screens
containing the introduction, consent, and/or debriefing information. As email
links may cause problems with confidentiality, a telephone number for the
researcher should also be provided.
d. Provide feedback (debriefing) to
participants at the end of the survey. An example of a debriefing sheet is
in available on the UND ORPD-IRB web site Appendix A.
2. Informed Consent: As it is not
practical in most Web-based surveys to get a consent form signed by
participants, researchers need to request from the IRB a waiver of the
requirement for obtaining a signed consent form from each participant. The IRB
has the authority to waive this requirement, but in order to do so, it must
ensure that the study meets the requirements as stated in 45 CFR 46, Section
117 (refer to UND ORPD-IRB web site Appendix C).
Informed consent can be readily obtained prior to responding to the actual
survey by having the first page as an information sheet and consent form rather
than the actual survey. The screen displaying the informed consent information
can be designed so that the participant is required to take an action to
signify their acknowledgment of the consent information. Many surveys are
designed so that participants are confronted with an on-screen button that says
"I consent/agree to participate" to click on if they accept the terms
of the consent information. Participants then proceed to the actual survey.
Alternatively, researchers can place a link after the consent information to
take participants to the survey. Ideally, once participants have read and
acknowledged the consent information, they can request a copy of, or print, the
consent document.
Another method of
obtaining informed consent in Web-based surveys is to have participants read
the consent document and indicate whether or not they
agree to participate by supplying and submitting a valid email address. Upon
receipt, participants are sent a confirmation of their consent to participate
via email and provided with the survey's Web address. If researchers retain the
email addresses (they should notify potential participants they are doing this,
and the purpose for doing so), they need to log them separately from the
participants' survey responses to ensure confidentiality and privacy (Schmidt,
1997).
Informed consent must contain
all elements required by federal regulations Examples of a Web-based consent
form and a debriefing information sheet in Appendix A on the UND-IRB web page.