Oral Informed Consent
The federal guidelines on informed consent do allow for an oral
presentation of informed consent information to participants. The procedures
for oral consent, however, are fairly complicated. The guidelines state
that if you use oral consent (that is, read the consent document aloud rather
than have participants read a printed document) you must:
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submit a written summary of what will be read to participants, and have
the IRB approve the summary.
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have a witness present when the information is presented to participants.
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have a short written summary that describes the information presented to
participants, and have the participants, witness, and researcher sign this
short document.
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provide copies of the information to participants.