HI

On Wed, 3 Apr 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote (posting for a
colleague):

> Earlier today I received an envelope in my mailbox containing a number of 
> blank surveys and a cover letter requesting my participation in the research 
> project.  The researcher is a undergraduate student in an Experimental 
> Research and Design course and is conducting this study as part of the course 
> requirements.  In the cover letter, the student researcher requested that I 
> distribute the surveys to the students in one of my classes, allow them class 
> time to anonymously complete the survey, and return the completed surveys to 
> our department chair (who is also the instructor of the course).  The cover 
> letter had all the standard elements of an informed consent form, including a 
> comment that the research had been approved by the appropriate university 
> review boards, but the letter did not include the name of the student 
> researcher.  Instead of the signature, it read:  �Name Withheld (to prevent 
> bias in people responding)�.

If the name of the researcher being withheld was part of the
ethics approval, then I would NOT second-guess the review
committee.  Getting approval for innocuous social science
research is becoming (in my opinion) excessively medicalized with
respect to ethics.  If every participant in a study or every
intermediary can lay claim to their own ethical guidelines, then
it would become even more of a challenge.  As an instructor,
however, you are probably free to distribute or not distribute as
you see fit.

Best wishes
Jim

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James M. Clark                          (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology                (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg                  4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3B 2E9             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA                                  http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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