Telephone Survey – What sort of review is needed? What sort of consent is required?
It is obviously very difficult to obtain a signed consent form in a telephone exchange. (In these days of ubiquitous fax machines, it not IMPOSSIBLE to do this; but it would be complicated and awkward.) Generally, verbal consent is adequate. However, it must still involve ALL the elements of fully informed consent. In order to verify this, the IRB must review a script of just what will be said to each potential subject to obtain their consent. The IRB must also review the script for the telephone survey, as well as a description of the process of identifying potential subjects and measures to protect the confidentiality of participants.
