Participant Written Consent Template Forms & Templates
IRB Research Proposal Survey
The IRB Research Proposal Survey must be filled out in Mentor IRB (see The Application Process - Preparing & Submitting a Proposal). You will be asked to upload supplemental documents, such as informed consent documents, recruitment examples and confidentiality agreements with translators and transcribers. The templates below are resources to help you create the supplemental documents necessary for your study. If you would like Word docs for some of the templates (which you can edit for your use), please email irb@smith.edu and request the documents you would like in Word format.
Consent Form Templates
The goal of the informed consent process is to ensure that the research subject is treated with respect and human dignity. The process does this by safeguarding and advocating for the subject's right to deliberate and make a knowing decision whether to cooperate with the investigator's research interest. Smith College requires that every researcher (whether student, faculty or staff) secure the written informed consent of any human subject used in research before involving that subject in the research project.
In preparing instructions for subjects being asked to sign this consent form, please use language appropriate for a 7th grade reading level (similar to a popular magazine or newspaper; language copied out of a grant or proposal is not appropriate).
The language on the template is standard language, and must be included unless it is entirely irrelevant to your study. A complete discussion of the need to remove any of this language must be included in your IRB proposal forms.
Upper-case text placed in brackets within this form gives contextual information about developing descriptions of your study in the remainder of each section. Brackets around blank sections […] are areas where information specific to your project should be inserted. ALL sections of this consent form must be completed for consideration and/or final IRB approval.
If you are requesting a waiver of the standard written consent requirement, please use these templates:
Consent Forms for Research Involving Minors
Parental Consent
Written parental/guardian permission is required for studies involving children.
Child Assent
Once parental/guardian permission has been obtained, the agreement or assent of the child is required. The child's assent is documented with an assent form, a child-friendly document that outlines the essential information about the research. Children who are able to read and write should participate in the consent process by using an assent form written in language especially for the child.
WRITTEN ASSENT (AGES 7-17)
From age 7 and up, a child's written assent is needed (in addition to parental or guardian consent). The assent form should be written in a way the minor participant can understand. The researcher should use supplementary verbal explanations as needed.
ORAL ASSENT (AGE 6 OR YOUNGER)
For participants who are 6 and younger, the researcher should obtain the child's assent to participate, but a signature is not required. The explanation to the child should contain elements of consent expressed in a way the child can understand. A conversational question/answer setting is often the most useful form of communication. With very young children, the child's nonresistant behavior may be interpreted as assent, but the researcher must use special care to discontinue the participation of any child who appears to experience undue stress from the research procedure.