Remote Research

Emory & Henry College continues to conduct human subjects research using remote methods. Below describes options that you can use to conduct research during this time or any time these methods makes sense for your research.

Qualtrics is the preferred platform.

Qualtrics can be used to create completely anonymous surveys by doing the following, go to “Survey Options” button in Survey page; Roll down to find ” Survey Termination”, and check “Anonymize Response”. When you create the survey, don’t ask for any personally identifying information.

When it is appropriate to your study, you may also use Qualtrics to conduct surveys that collect identifiable information.

Mturk for recruitment of a wider audience and compensation is allowed as long as the survey is conducted using Qualtrics. (more information to come!)

Teleconferencing Tools

Use of the telephone and video conferencing is may be used, particularly for research to be conducted remotely. Zoom is the preferred platform, however you may use others as long as they are encrypted (such as FaceTime and Skype).

Tips for Zoom:

When scheduling your meeting

Generate a unique meeting ID.
Require a meeting password and distribute the password to only those who need access.
Enable the waiting room feature (available under Meeting Options). This will allow the host to grant access to those participants who should be part of study.

During your meeting:

Remove and or manage participants.
Lock your meeting once all your participants have joined to avoid uninvited guests.
Keep control of your screen. Currently this is a default setting for your FIU Zoom account, but if you need to allow someone to share their screen, you can do so by making them a co-host.
If recording videos, avoid using the Zoom Cloud Recording Storage. Instead use the Local Storage option, which stores the recordings on your own device (i.e., laptop or computer).

If maintaining Anonymity in your study is important with Zoom Consider the following:

Go to Zoom Settings section. Under the Telephone subtab: Enable Mask phone number in the participant list.
You might also turn off “video” for participants when scheduling a meeting.
- You may explain to participants, that they can change their name when they join the meeting.

For surveys, interviews, and focus groups and other activities that fall into the exempt categories, consent statements can be presented electronically (e.g. as the first page of an electronic survey), emailed, or read to the participant as is appropriate for the study.

For studies that are not exempt, a signature is normally required. But that is not practical for remote situations. In that case, for non-exempt research, an alteration of consent is required. And in some cases a waiver of documentation is recommended.

Here are some options to consider.

1. Consent over the phone or teleconference, with you as the researcher documenting consent as the last page of the consent form.

2. Emailing the consent to the participant and having the individual sign, scan/take picture, and email it back to you.

3. Mail the consent, and have the participant mail it back to you.

All of these are alterations to the normal consent process, which is why an alteration of consent is required.

In some situations it may be harmful to document consent of the participant because it would make their information identifiable. Or it may be the case that your study includes procedures for which consent is not normally required (like an anonymous survey). In those situations you would also complete w aiver of documentation of consent.

Research Compliance

Remote Research

Survey Research

Teleconferencing

Consent Processes