Students as Research Participants
Students may participate in research conducted by University faculty, staff, and students, as well as by researchers from other universities or organizations. Because of the educational relationship between students and faculty, additional care is necessary when students may be research participants. Students must be able to make a voluntary decision about research participation without pressure, coercion, or concern that declining will affect their grade, academic standing, relationship with an instructor, or access to educational opportunities.
Types of Activities Covered by This Section
Some classroom activities involve research-type methods but are conducted solely for educational or pedagogical purposes. For example, an instructor may have students administer surveys or psychological instruments to one another to practice interviewing techniques. When these activities are designed solely for educational purposes and the information is not used to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge, they are generally not considered research under federal regulations and do not require IRB review.
Similarly, a classroom project in which students collect information from other students solely for a course assignment may not constitute research requiring IRB review when the results are used only within the course and are not intended to be shared outside the educational setting or contribute to generalizable knowledge. For example, students might administer an anonymous survey about dining services as part of a class assignment, with the results used only for that course.
These activities may nevertheless be subject to other University policies or administrative requirements. The instructor or project leader is responsible for determining whether other University requirements apply.
Research Involving Normal Educational Practices
Research involving established or commonly accepted educational practices may qualify for an exemption under the federal regulations. An exemption determination must be obtained from the IRB before the research begins when the activity meets the definition of human-subjects research.
Even when research qualifies for exemption, investigators must follow the applicable requirements for informed consent or other IRB-approved procedures unless the IRB determines that an alteration or waiver is permitted.
When research is conducted as part of a course or involves normal educational activities, faculty must clearly distinguish between participation in the educational activity and participation in the research.
For example, an instructional technique may be a required part of a course, while the collection or use of students' information for research purposes must remain voluntary unless the IRB has approved an appropriate alteration or waiver of consent. When applicable, students should be given an opportunity to decline having their information used for research without academic penalty.
Faculty should provide students with information about the research at an appropriate point in the course and should ensure that students have a meaningful opportunity to ask questions and make an independent decision about participation.
When feasible, the person obtaining consent or collecting research data should not be the student's instructor or someone who has responsibility for evaluating the student's academic performance.
If research is conducted at another educational institution or as part of an external educational placement, investigators must also comply with the requirements of that institution.
Research Participation Must Be Voluntary
Faculty must not require students to participate in research. This includes requiring participation as a condition of:
- Completing a course;
- Receiving a particular grade;
- Receiving course credit;
- Receiving extra credit;
- Completing a course assignment;
- Accessing an educational opportunity; or
- Maintaining good academic standing.
Students must be free to decline participation without penalty or negative consequences.
Faculty should also avoid language, recruitment practices, or classroom procedures that could make students feel that participation is expected. A student's decision to participate or decline should not influence how the faculty member evaluates, advises, supervises, or otherwise interacts with the student.
Research Participation and Course Grades (Preferred Practice)
The University strongly recommends that faculty do not make research participation part of a course grade. Whenever possible, research recruitment and participation should be kept separate from grading and other academic evaluation.
The concern is particularly significant when the faculty member conducting the research is also responsible for assigning the student's grade. Even when participation is technically voluntary, the student may perceive that declining could affect the faculty member's evaluation of them.
Extra Credit or Other Academic Benefits
If research participation is offered for extra credit or another academic benefit, participation must remain voluntary. Students who choose not to participate must be offered a meaningful alternative that provides the same academic benefit and requires a comparable amount of time and effort.
For example, if participating in a research study involves approximately 30 minutes of activity and provides a specified amount of extra credit, a student who declines participation should be offered an alternative educational activity requiring approximately the same amount of time and effort and providing the same amount of extra credit.
The alternative assignment should not be more difficult, more burdensome, or less educationally valuable than participating in the research.
The informed consent process must clearly explain:
- The amount of extra credit or other academic benefit available;
- How and when the benefit will be awarded;
- The alternative activity available to students who do not participate; and
- What will happen to the academic benefit if a student withdraws from the study.
The IRB may require modifications to the proposed extra-credit arrangement or alternative assignment if the arrangement could create undue influence or otherwise compromise the voluntariness of participation.
Faculty should not use research participation as a substitute for a regular course assignment or make research participation the primary means by which students earn course credit.
Recruitment of Students for Research Studies
This section applies to three groups of students:
- A PI's current students—students currently enrolled in a course or otherwise under the academic supervision or authority of the PI;
- Other SVSU students who are not currently students of the PI; and
- Students at other educational institutions who participate in SVSU research.
University requirements for the protection of human participants apply to all students participating in SVSU research, regardless of where they are enrolled.
Researcher's Own Students
Additional protections are required when potential participants are students currently taught, supervised, advised, or evaluated by the PI or another member of the research team.
As a general practice, the University discourages faculty from recruiting their own current students for research. The IRB will consider the circumstances of the proposed research and whether adequate safeguards are in place to protect voluntariness and minimize the potential for coercion or undue influence.
When a study can reasonably be conducted without recruiting the PI's own students, investigators should use another population.
If the nature of the research or other circumstances makes it necessary to recruit the investigator's own students, the IRB may consider the request on an individual basis and may require additional safeguards.
Preferred Recruitment and Data-Collection Practices
Whenever feasible, research involving a faculty member's current students should use procedures that minimize the influence of the faculty–student relationship.
The preferred approach is to have an independent person recruit participants, obtain consent, and/or collect research data. Whenever possible, the instructor should not know which students participated or declined to participate and should not have access to identifiable research data until final course grades have been assigned and entered.
If research activities occur in a classroom, the faculty researcher should not be present during recruitment, consent, or data collection when their presence could influence students' decisions.
An independent data collector may be a colleague from the same or another department or another appropriately qualified member of the research team. A graduate assistant assigned to the course should not be responsible for recruitment or data collection because of the potential influence of that relationship.
These safeguards should be used whenever feasible, including when the research information is anonymous, because the goal is not only to prevent actual coercion but also to minimize the perception that participation is expected.
Students Who Become Participants in a Faculty Member's Study
Faculty should avoid situations in which a student is enrolled in a faculty researcher's course while simultaneously participating in that faculty member's research study. This may not always be avoidable, particularly in programs with limited course options or when research participation is related to a student's field of study.
When such situations occur, the investigator must take particular care to protect voluntariness, maintain confidentiality, separate research participation from academic evaluation, and prevent the student's decision about research participation from affecting the educational relationship.
Key Principle
A student must be able to say "no" to research without academic consequences.
The fact that research participation is voluntary should be evident not only in the consent form, but also in the way the study is designed, introduced, recruited, conducted, and connected—or not connected—to students' academic work.
Best practice is to keep research participation separate from course grading whenever possible. When an academic benefit such as extra credit is offered, students who decline research participation must have a comparable alternative that provides the same benefit without requiring greater time or effort.