Internet-Based Research – SBE questions and answers with complete solutions

Which of the following examples of using the internet to conduct research meets the federal definition of research with human subjects? Conducting an online focus group with cancer survivors to determine familial support systems. The researcher also invites subjects’ significant others to be a part of the focus group. Which of the following methods could be considered a “best practice” in terms of informing respondents how their answers to an on-line survey about personal information will be protected? The investigator uses the informed consent process to explain how respondent data will be transmitted from the website to his encrypted database without ever recording respondents’ IP addresses, but explains that on the Internet confidentiality cannot be absolutely guaranteed. Which of the following strategies would help ensure that participation in a survey about a sensitive personal topic remains voluntary throughout a study? Designing the survey so that subjects are not forced to answer one question before going to the next. To minimize potential risks of harm, a researcher conducting an online survey can: Design the survey so that no direct or indirect identifiers are collected. The Internet can be used as a research tool or as the object of a study. Which of the following examples best describes an investigator using the Internet as a research tool? An investigator uses his Facebook wall to post a URL link to a survey he is hosting on SurveyMonkey. The federal regulations define both a human subject and research separately, but both definitions must be met to qualify as human subjects research. Thus, research with human subjects is defined as a systematic investigation (intent to contribute to generalizable knowledge) involving living individuals about whom a researcher conducting research obtains information through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or obtains, uses, studies, analyzes or generates identifiable private information (Protection of Human Subjects 2018). Conducting an online focus group with live human beings to research familial support systems would therefore meet the definition of research with human subjects.