Not all risks are equal!
Researchers can sometimes underestimate risk – after all, you’re just asking people questions! Where’s the harm in that?
Remember to consider both the probability of harm AND the magnitude (or severity) of that harm to figure out how risky your study is.
What should you consider?
There’s ALWAYS risk when your research includes human participants. But that doesn’t mean your study isn’t worth doing!
How do you balance risk and benefit?
Inform your participants of the risk upfront.
Minimize the risk of harm to your participants as much as you can.
Can your survey be anonymous? (Paper surveys can be, but online ones can, too, if you don’t collect email or IP – internet provider – addresses)
If you have to know who your participants are (say, you can see them in an interview), can you skip collecting personal identifying info, like their names or phone numbers, or email addresses?
If you have to collect personal identifying info (for example, if you need to ask follow-up questions later), can you create a code for it? Instead of using people’s names, you could number your participants.
If you create a code to use in place of personal identifying info, you’ll still need to keep a key (matching the codes – like numbers – with everyone’s names). Can you keep that key in a safe place, like on a password-protected computer or in an encrypted file?