Poster #43 - Obtaining Parental Consent in School-Based Research: An Analysis of Recruitment Methods

• In Event: Poster Session 19

Abstract

Obtaining parental consent is a critical aspect of conducting research in schools. The active consent process (i.e., consent signed by parents/guardians) ensures that parents are adequately apprised of what their child’s participation entails, including any risks and benefits. However, the active consent procedure often results in a low return rate (Wolfenden et al., 2009), resulting in challenges in school-based research. For example, a small number of student participants may lead to inadequate statistical power to detect significance and may influence the representativeness of the sample (Bergstrom et al., 2009). Strategies such as providing options on the form to either grant or deny consent for their child to participate, providing forms in multiple languages, and offering incentives to classes are often used in order to increase return rate. This study investigated the following research questions: (1) Do return and consent rates differ by three recruitment messages? and (2) What other strategies do teachers use for recruitment?

In this study, we compared three methods in which students were informed about the nature of the study, invited to participate, and encouraged to ask their parents or guardians to read and sign the consent form. As part of a larger project, we recruited 69 teachers from four districts in the Southwest US: n=36 for Grade 4 and n=33 for Grade 5, 88% female; and 45% White and 41% Latinx. We randomly assigned each classroom to one of three recruitment conditions: (1) Peer-delivered message (a video in which a same age peer actor delivered a scripted message of recruitment), (2) Teacher-delivered message (a video in which a teacher actor delivered a scripted message), and (3) As-usual (teachers were provided with information about the project and asked to distribute the consent materials). The script is included in Figure 1. Teachers were also asked about: (1) the strategies used to facilitate the return of signed consent forms, (2) the number of reminders provided during the period between the initial recruitment message and collection of signed consent, and (3) the type of individual and/or class-wide rewards offered by teachers to incentivize the return of signed consent forms.

Based on the principle that models of similar age and ability are more likely to promote social learning (Bandura, 1977), we hypothesized that the classes that viewed the video with the peer recruiter would have significantly higher rates of return and parental consent than the other two conditions. The results indicated no statistically significant difference in the return rate and consent rate for three conditions: F(2, 49)=.121, p=.89 for the return rate; and F(2, 49)=.934, p=.40 for the consent rate. The follow-up analysis found no difference between the two conditions with either child or teacher actor. Teacher responses to the questions about additional strategies indicated a wide range of efforts–from no efforts to offering varied incentives. The poster will also report the association between additional strategies and return/consent rate. Limitations and implications for future research will be discussed.

Authors

• Connor Kendzora, University of Arizona
  Presenting Author

• Kaia Schott, University of Arizona

• Mary Ann Byerly, Wichita State University

• Sheri Bauman, University of Arizona

• Jina Yoon, University of Arizona