[Air-L] Online consent forms

[Ulf-Dietrich Reips]

Hi Sanaz:
generally, it is best if you can settle with your 
IRB or any other supervisionary person/office on 
a common pratice: simply use a submit button with 
the wording "I agree" or "I consent" at the end 
of the consent form. Only if this button is 
pressed a participant can advance to the next 
page of the study. Authenticication (if needed) 
can then be managed within the study.

Another option is, of course, a PDF file of the 
consent form you ask potential participants to 
print, sign, and fax or mail back along with a 
copy of an ID. This procedure, however, is more 
burdensome for all parties and more susceptible 
to leaking participants' personal data during the 
communication.

A variant of the second option above is that 
first you send individual codes to those you 
invite to your study. No personal information is 
transmitted, so it can not fall into the hands of 
third parties. Provided you use a safe way of 
communication the codes further ensure with a 
high probability that indeed only those you sent 
them to do participate, and you can identify each 
participant. Also, you will know who attempted to 
participate multiple times or passed the code to 
others as well. Of course, with this option - as 
with most others - you can not be absolutely sure 
that it is indeed the person you contacted who 
participates.

There are more options, but the ones above suffice for most online studies.

Best wishes --u

At 22:18 Uhr +0100 2.5.2011, Sanaz Raji wrote:
>Hi:
>
>I'd appreciate any advice from AoIR members. Are 
>there any programs that allow for participants 
>to easily give an electronic signature for 
>consent forms online? If not, I'd appreciate any 
>suggestions on how to go about getting 
>participants to submit a completed online 
>consent form with a signature included?
>
>Many thanks for your help.
>
>Best wishes:
>Sanaz
>---
>Sanaz Raji
>ICS PhD Scholar
>Institute of Communications Studies
>University of Leeds
>Mobile: +44 (0) 785 4706 374
>ICS URL: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/details.cfm?id=185&susername=cssr
>Guardian URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sanaz-raji
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-- 
Ulf-Dietrich Reips, Ph.D., habil.
	Ikerbasque Research Professor      
	Facultad de Psicología y Educación
	Universidad de Deusto
	Apartado 1, 48080 Bilbao, España

Secretary & Fax: +34 944 139 085
http://iscience.deusto.es/