CITI - Internet-Based Research - SBE

To minimize potential risks of harm, a researcher conducting an on-line survey can:

Design the survey so that no direct or indirect identifiers are collected.

Researchers designing online studies should consider the following with respect to participant protections.

Re-identification methods are unique to internet-based research.

Which scenario best describes a researcher making thoughtful considerations in the design of their informed consent process on an online study?

The researcher will ask for a waiver to document informed consent and instead will have a live button that reads, "If you agree to be in this study click below to begin."

Which of the following on-line research strategies raises the most concerns regarding the ethical principle of respecting the autonomy of research subjects and the corresponding federal regulations requiring informed consent?

A researcher proposes to join a moderated support group for cancer survivors posing as a survivor. She plans to insert comments to see how the members respond.

Which of the following examples of using the internet to conduct research meets the federal definition of research with human subjects?

Conducting an on-line focus group with cancer survivors to determine familial support systems. The researcher also invites subjects' significant others to be a part of the focus group.

Consent to participate in research is an ongoing process. Which of the following strategies would help ensure that participation in a survey about a sensitive personal topic remains voluntary throughout a study?

Designing the survey so that subjects are not forced to answer one question before going to the next

Which of the following methods could be considered a "best practice" in terms of informing respondents how their answers to an on-line survey about personal information will be protected?

The investigator uses the informed consent process to explain how respondent data will be transmitted from the website to his encrypted database without ever recording respondents' IP addresses, but explains that on the internet confidentiality cannot be absolutely guaranteed.

Revelations about the Facebook Emotional Contagion study highlights what key ethical consideration to conducting research using social media?

Users of social media sites, like Facebook, may not fully understand all of the terms to which they are agreeing to when accepting a sites' terms of use.