Will an ethics committee accept an online consent form?

Many will, and many have specific requirements about how consent is recorded, stored and withdrawn. A drawn signature with a timestamp is stronger evidence than a single tick box, which is why this template includes one. What no template can tell you is what your own committee requires, so submit the wording you intend to use rather than assuming a generic form will pass.

Why separate the required and optional consent lists?

Because they are different decisions. Taking part in a study and agreeing to be quoted in a publication are not the same commitment, and a participant who wants one but not the other has no way to say so if both sit in the same block. Keeping them apart also means your record shows precisely what each person agreed to.

How do I handle consent for a participant under 18?

A parent or guardian signs, and the form should record that this is what happened. The age question here branches to a guardian name field for exactly that reason. Many committees also expect age appropriate assent from the child alongside the guardian's consent, so check whether yours requires a second form.

Research Consent Form

Informed consent for a study, covering what the participant is agreeing to, how their data is handled, and their right to withdraw.

About this template

Informed consent is not one agreement, it is several, and this form treats it that way. The required list covers the things a participant must accept to take part at all. The optional list covers audio recording, quotation and recontact, which are separate asks that plenty of people will decline while still being happy to take part. Bundling them into one tick box is the mistake that makes a consent record worthless when somebody later objects to being quoted.

The study information section is a placeholder and needs replacing before this goes anywhere near a participant. An ethics committee will expect the purpose, the procedure, the risks and a named contact in front of the person signing, not linked from somewhere else, and what they require differs by institution.

The withdrawal statement is the one people most often water down. If a participant can withdraw without giving a reason, say exactly that, and be clear about what happens to data already collected when they do, because that is the question they will actually ask.

Add a page break after the information section if the study sheet is long, so nobody scrolls past it to reach the tick boxes.

Templates are a starting point, not legal or professional advice. Where a form carries consent, medical, or contractual wording, have somebody qualified review it against the rules that apply to you before you publish.

Fields in this template

Study title*Short text
Lead researcherShort text
Full name*Short text
Email address*Email
Participant number, if you were given oneShort text
Are you 18 or over?*Single choice
Parent or guardian name, if applicableShort text
Please confirm each of the following*Multiple choice
Optional permissionsMultiple choice
Any questions or conditions you want recordedLong text
Signature*Signature
Date*Date

Every field can be renamed, reordered, made optional, or removed once the template is open in the builder.

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Frequently asked questions

Will an ethics committee accept an online consent form?: Many will, and many have specific requirements about how consent is recorded, stored and withdrawn. A drawn signature with a timestamp is stronger evidence than a single tick box, which is why this template includes one. What no template can tell you is what your own committee requires, so submit the wording you intend to use rather than assuming a generic form will pass.
Why separate the required and optional consent lists?: Because they are different decisions. Taking part in a study and agreeing to be quoted in a publication are not the same commitment, and a participant who wants one but not the other has no way to say so if both sit in the same block. Keeping them apart also means your record shows precisely what each person agreed to.
How do I handle consent for a participant under 18?: A parent or guardian signs, and the form should record that this is what happened. The age question here branches to a guardian name field for exactly that reason. Many committees also expect age appropriate assent from the child alongside the guardian's consent, so check whether yours requires a second form.

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