Informed Consent : Northern Kentucky University, Greater Cincinnati Region

Researchers are required to use the following NKU consent templates:

Consent Type	Age	Template
Informed Consent	Recruiting adults 18 years of age and older	Informed Consent Template
Informed Assent	Recruiting minors typically ages 10-17	Informed Assent Template
Parental Permission	Recruiting minors under 18 years of age	Parental Permission Template
	* A copy of the informed consent must be given to the person signing the form.

All informed consents, informed assents, and parental permission forms are uploaded in Mentor IRB while completing the application process.

TIPS FOR INFORMED CONSENT

The Informed Consent should be between the 6th and 9th grade reading level.

MS Word offers a tool to determine the reading level called the Flesch-Kincaid Index. Here are directions for activating this feature in different versions of Word.

An informed consent may be read to the participant by the researcher.
Avoid technical/medical/legal jargon - or if it must be used, define it clearly.
Spell out acronyms and abbreviations the first time they are used.
Keep words to four syllables or fewer, if possible.
Write short, simple, direct sentences.
Use subjective pronouns - using "you", "we", and "I" makes the message more personal and engaging.

Avoid	Preferred
Trial, experiment	Research study
Principal Investigator	Researcher, scientist
Subject	Participant
Randomization	Select randomly like drawing numbers from a hat or in a raffle
Asked to participate	Invited to participate
Symbols such as < or >	Spell out "greater than", "less than", etc.
Third person pronouns (e.g. he, she, hers, his)	Second person pronouns (e.g., you, your)