Obtaining Participant Consent
Before collecting any data from participants, you must obtain their informed consent. This is an essential part of conducting research and complying with data protection requirements.
As a researcher, you are responsible for meeting your legal obligations as a data controller for any personal data you collect. This includes providing participants with all information required by applicable data protection laws before any data is collected.
You can learn more about how Prolific protects privacy and complies with GDPR in our privacy guidance.
What information should a consent form include?
Your consent form should clearly explain:
What data will be collected. If you are collecting sensitive personal data (such as information about racial or ethnic origin, religious or political beliefs, or health status), this must be stated explicitly.
How the data will be used.
How the data will be stored and how long it will be retained.
How participant anonymity or confidentiality will be protected.
Whether anonymised data may be shared with other researchers or made publicly available in the future.
How participants can withdraw their consent and request the deletion of their data.
The legal basis or framework under which the data will be processed and stored.
Recording consent
After providing the information above, you should ask participants to confirm that:
They have read and understood the information provided.
They agree to take part in the study.
Participants should actively indicate their consent by selecting a checkbox or clicking a consent button. You should record this consent, including a timestamp, and store it alongside the participant's Prolific ID.
If a participant does not consent
Participants who do not provide consent should not continue with the study. Instead, return them to Prolific by following the guidance in How do I filter out participants who do not consent to my study?