Research Participants

What You Should Know as A Participant

Research participants are people who have agreed to take part in a study as a subject. Participants are protected by ethical principles, laws, and regulations.

Your Rights as A Research Participant

Investigators must respect the following rights of research participants:

To have enough time to decide whether or not to be in the research study and to make that decision without any pressure from the people who are conducting the research.
To refuse to be in the study at all, and to stop participating at any time after the study begins.
To be told what the study is trying to find out, what will happen to them, and what they will be asked to do if they are in the study.
To be told about the reasonably foreseeable risks of being in the study.
To be told about possible benefits of being in the study.
To be told whether there are any costs associated with being in the study and whether they will be compensated for participating in the study.
To be told who will have access to the information collected about them and how their confidentiality will be protected.
To be told whom to contact with questions about the research, about research-related injury, and about their rights as a research participant.

If the study involves treatment or therapy:

To be told about the other non-research treatment choices they have.
To be told where treatment is available should they have a research-related injury, and who will pay for research-related treatment.

Have A Concern or Complaint?

If you have a concern or a complaint related to a study, please contact our office.

To best provide you with timely assistance please describe the issue and reference the following if known:

Principal Investigator/Researcher name
IRB #
Study title

This information should be included in the study’s recruitment or informed consent materials.

Additional Resources

For information on privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world, please visit clinicaltrials.gov