If your study will be using incomplete disclosure or deception in its methods, please make sure to provide information to the IRB reviewers on why this is necessary and how you will be debriefing your participants about your use of incomplete disclosure or deception as appropriate for your study in the Plan of Study section of the IRB application.

Comments from the Belmont Report on Disclosure and Deception

“A special problem of consent arises where informing subjects of some pertinent aspect of the research is likely to impair the validity of the research. In many cases, it is sufficient to indicate to subjects that they are being invited to participate in research of which some features will not be revealed until the research is concluded. In all cases of research involving incomplete disclosure, such research is justified only if it is clear that (1) incomplete disclosure is truly necessary to accomplish the goals of the research, (2) there are no undisclosed risks to subjects that are more than minimal, and (3) there is an adequate plan for debriefing subjects, when appropriate, and for dissemination of research results to them. Information about risks should never be withheld for the purpose of eliciting the cooperation of subjects, and truthful answers should always be given to direct questions about the research. Care should be taken to distinguish cases in which disclosure would destroy or invalidate the research from cases in which disclosure would simply inconvenience the investigator.” (Carleton emphasis)

Incomplete Disclosure

Incomplete disclosure applies when information about the real purpose or nature of the research is withheld from participants.

Examples:

  • Participants are given general information about the study purpose but the information is not detailed enough to reveal the researcher’s main or specific objective.
  • Participants are given truthful information about a study procedure but are not fully informed about the expected findings.
  • Participants are asked to take a quiz for research but they are not told that the research question involves how background noise affects their ability to concentrate.
  • Participants are asked to rate the credibility of a presenter but the participant is not told that the research question involves identifying how the age and gender of the presenter affects the participants’ observations of the presenter.
  • Participants are asked to write about their current mood but are not told that the research personnel have purposely altered the ambient lighting to impact the participant’s overall sense of calm.

Deception

Deception in the context of human research refers to providing false information to prospective participants.

Examples:

  • Participants are given a cover story that provides a feasible but slightly inaccurate account of the study purpose.
  • The study includes a confederate: an individual who is working on behalf of the research but poses as a participant. The confederate’s actions are components of the experimental design.
  • Participants complete a quiz, and are falsely told that they did very poorly, regardless of their actual performance.
  • Participants are asked to read a list of words or view a series of images but are not told that their memory will be tested.
  • In order to induce stress, study personnel tell study participants that they will give a speech that evaluators will observe on video, when the participants’ speeches will not actually be recorded or observed.
  • Study personnel tell study participants that they will play a competitive game involving financial rewards based on their performance. In fact, the game is rigged and rewards are not based on performance.

Sources:

https://www.unr.edu/research-integrity/human-research/human-research-protection-policy-manual/342-informed-consent-and-incomplete-disclosure-or-deception

https://vpr.tamu.edu/human-research-protection-program/hrpp-guidance/using-deception-and-incomplete-disclosure-in-research/

Resources:

https://www.swarthmore.edu/institutional-review-board/deception-incomplete-disclosure-and-debriefing (information about what to include in a debriefing protocol)

https://www.colorado.edu/researchinnovation/sites/default/files/attached-files/guidance_document_-_deception_and_incomplete_disclosure_final_12apr19.pdf (examples of studies that use deception and information about what to include in a debriefing form)

https://vpr.tamu.edu/human-research-protection-program/hrpp-guidance/using-deception-and-incomplete-disclosure-in-research/ (description of deception studies and sample language to use in debriefing protocols)

https://ora.research.ucla.edu/OHRPP/Documents/Policy/8/Deception.pdf (protocols about when to use deception and how to debrief)