Internet-Based research SBE CITI
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.
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 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.
The Internet can be used as a research tool or as the object of a study. Which of the following examples best describes an investigator using the Internet as a research tool?
An investigator uses his Facebook wall to post a URL link to a survey he is hosting on SurveyMonkey.
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.