When Is Parental Notification of Surveying Underage Students in an Educational Setting Allowed in Lieu of Active Parental Permission?

Most researchers know they need parental permission when surveying underage students in an educational setting. However, there is extensive debate regarding how researchers should obtain active parental permission to conduct a study.

There is a process known as passive consent, during which parents are notified of the study and asked to let the school or researchers know if their child is comfortable with participating. The controversy around this practice arises because if parents fail to provide the necessary information, it is assumed that the child consents to the study.

 In some studies, active parental consent is not legally necessary, and researchers only need to provide parental notification to ensure parents are aware of all classroom activities. Obtaining active parental permission may hinder a researcher’s ability to collect data, but doing so provides legal protection for all parties involved. 

Why Do Researchers Fail to Obtain Active Parental Permission?

 Research from the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) states that the passive consent process does not follow the regulatory requirements for seeking parental permission and is highly discouraged. Researchers are strongly encouraged to obtain active consent, during which parents must provide a consent form for their child to participate in the study.

 But these regulations cause significant issues for researchers because studies requiring active consent have much lower response rates. Furthermore, researchers found that the active consent process leads to a lower response rate amongst children with unstable home lives, which produces biased, unreliable data. Researchers argue that parents who fail to complete consent forms generally do not oppose their children partaking in the study; they simply never received the form or were too busy to provide the information.

 Essentially, the parents that can return the form have a more organized lifestyle, but parents that fall within the high-risk demographic are simply unable to complete and return the form. The parents not returning consent forms are most likely on the free school lunch program and fall within a lower socioeconomic status. As all of these factors connect, it becomes clear that researchers cannot obtain quantitative data about the demographics that interest them the most.