Informed Consent Examples

This page provides examples of consent forms/scripts for a variety of research methods and risk levels. The examples cover the main consent requirements discussed on the page Obtaining Consent/Permission/Assent. They do not indicate required wording, except for the sections on physical and mental injury. They are meant to give an impression of how to generally approach writing a clear and concise consent script.

Consent scripts often have to include a number of additional elements, for example if a study involves video recording, professional survey panels, compensation for non-US citizens, lotteries, deception, children or other people who cannot consent for themselves, permission to be recontacted for later studies, and potential influence/retaliation by an authority figure (such as an employer, service provider, or community leader). The HRPP office and IRB reviewers will help you with these and any other study-specific details.

If you do not see a category that fits your project, you can contact the HRPP office for more help.

Online Surveys

  1. Anonymous, and not involving upsetting topics
  2. Anonymous, but with potentially upsetting topics
  3. Respondents could be identified, but the topics are not risky
  4. Respondents could be identified, and the topics could put them at risk

Interviews

  1. Non-sensitive topics.
  2. Risky topics
  3. Focus groups

Classroom Studies

  1. Projects where MTU students let their regular educational materials be used for research

Laboratory Studies

  1. Collection of biological samples
  2. Experiment with minimal risks
  3. Experiment with more than minimal risks