CLASS EXERCISE ON HUMAN SUBJECTS PROTECTION

Draft a cover letter to potential respondents who have been asked to participate in a face-to-face interview about their sexual practices. This information will be used to design preventive AIDS education programs. The letter should address the issues of privacy, confidentiality, potential risks to participants, potential benefits for participants, potential benefits for society, and how data will be secured. The letter should also contain information about the researchers and the purpose of the study.

In your group, address the following question:

Should the wording in the letter differ if all the participants are women or if the study is targeted to members of nondominant groups? How can to wording be changed to make it appropriate to the concerns of women, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans?

HUMAN SUBJECTS CRITERIA

Criteria	Component	Minimal Risk	More than Minimal Risk
Amount of Risk	Pain or Physical Danger	No	Yes
	Emotional Arousal or Stress	No	Yes
	Intervention produces long-term behavior or attitude changes	No	Yes
	Intervention involves misinformation or deceit	No	Yes
Cultural Competence	Project procedures are examined or modified in order to show respect for participants' cultural, religious, or personal values	Yes	No
Components of Consent	Accurate explanation of evaluation procedures is made	Yes	No
	Respondent is given an explanation of risks and benefits	Yes	No
	An offer is made to answer any additional questions about the project	Yes	No
	Participant is told that he or she can withdraw at any time	Yes	No
Confidentiality	Anonymous responses (if feasible)	Yes	No
	Information is kept confidential	Yes	No
	A coding system is kept in a secured location separate from the responses	Yes	No
	The responses are also kept in a secure location; only the evaluator will have access	Yes	No
	Any information that can identify respondents (for example, audiotapes of interviews) will be destroyed at the conclusion of the study	Yes	No

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