Let me take a stab at these questions. I've served on our IRB for the past 3
years, and I can lay out the answers our board would have (though some
things I've thought were forgone conclusions have recently gone a different
direction).
"1. A student teacher in our education program wants to collect data
(specifically not for publication) from children in her class who are
enrolled in a special educational treatment program. They are obviously
minors and in some cases they are disabled. The educational program is
something that the school has implemented, not the student researcher, and
the school is acting as "in loco parentis". The student only wants to
collect and examine data for her own personal use. My question is - does
the student have to obtain the participant's (child's) consent before
collecting any data?"
The key here would be "for her own personal use." If this is the
case, or if it is for program enhancement, then the answer is No, informed
consent to participate in research would not be necessary. However, if she
decided that she later wanted to publish it, then she would be out of luck.
Even if she wants to publish it as a class paper, she would need to get
consent. So, I'd recommend getting informed consent. And, remember, with
minors, you need to get parental consent for participation in the study. And
to be safe, you should get the child's assent.
"The problem I see with this is that we would then be
giving the child the option of not participating, which raises the
question - Does a child have the right to refuse his/her education?"
Actually, the child does have the right to refuse to do the program,
but that would impinge upon his/her grade. My students here choose all of
the time to not participate in their education and they receive the
consequences for it. Less facitiously, the children can refuse to
participate in the study. Which means they will have to do the activities
but their data will not be analyzed.
2. The second question is really the same as the first, except the student
researcher is completing an internship at a center for criminals and drug
addicts. These individuals have been forced (coerced) to attend sessions at
this clinic by the legal system (or go to jail). The student researcher
would like to collect data, again not for publication, from subjects as they
participate in the center's programs. Nothing outside the center's program
will be done. The question is - does the student have to obtain the
participant's consent? and if the participant is a minor would the student
researcher have to obtain parental assent also? The problem I see with this
is that we would be giving the participant the option of not participating
in a program that they are legally required to participate in (or go to
jail).
Again, I'd say if the results are going to be potentially used for
publication anywhere to go and get informed consent from the participant
and/or his/her parent or legal guardian. And, just as with the school above,
the participants are not refusing consent to participate in the program but
your student's evaluation of the program.
As far as informed consent goes, I tend to err on the side of
caution. With the political and legal climate the way it is, and with the
number of programs being shut down because of a lack of informed consent,
I'd rather get consent when I didn't need it than not have it when I did.
--Rick
Rick Grieve, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN 37044
I am here to chew bubblegum and take names.
