Guidance for Observational Research
Observations can be as public as watching people in a park and as private as attending a closed-door meeting or observing someone in their home. If you are planning to conduct observational research, you will need to consider and provide the following information in your IRB (Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects) submission.
Description of the Observations
- What will be observed? What information will you collect about participants?
- Where will the observation take place?
- Will observations occur in public or private spaces? Is there an expectation of privacy even though the participant is in a public space?
- Are the observations in person or will they occur online?
- How many observations will occur? How long will the observations be?
- How will you document the data? Audio and/or video recordings? Notes?
- Will you interact with the participants in any way?
- Will you gather any information that is illegal, sensitive, etc.?
Recruitment of Participants
Participant Population
Describe who will be observed to the best of your ability.
If the exact number of participants is unknown, provide an estimate or range.
Recruitment Procedures
If possible, describe how you will recruit participants for observations.
If you are attending a private event for observations, you will need to write to the event organizer to ask permission to observe. You should include the script for this in the IRB application. If you already have permission (i.e., due to an ongoing relationship/partnership with an individual/organization), you should state this within the IRB application. If you need permission to conduct the observation, please include the documentation with the submission.
Informed Consent
Describe the consent process for the observations. If the study is exempt, you are not under the same obligation to obtain documentation of consent relative to non-exempt studies. Though, the IRB may ask a researcher to use a Disclosure Script that tells participants that you are there to observe, what you will observe about them, and how you are recording the observations. These disclosures frequently permit participants to request that the researcher not include them in the observations. An example disclosure script is below.
If the study is not exempt, you will need to obtain consent from the participants or the IRB may, in some cases, waive the requirement for documented consent. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Example Disclosure Script
Hello, my name is [name] and I am a researcher at the University of Maine. I am conducting a research study about [insert purpose of research]. As a part of this project, I am observing [description of the observations] today at [name of event/meeting/etc.].
I will record the observations with [notes, audio and/or video recordings – If recordings, say where they will be stored and for how long].
[Describe the disposition of the data – identifiable? Not identifiable?] These data will not be shared beyond me and the research team and it will be stored on a password-protected computer [until month/year or indefinitely].
If applicable: Your name or other identifying information collected in these observations will not be reported in any publications.
If you do not want to be included in this research project, please let me know [if needed, provide contact information to the participants] and I will exclude you from the research.
Confidentiality
Please be clear if participants can be identified directly or indirectly through identifiers linked to the participants. If there are identifiable data (i.e., notes connected to the participant’s identity, audio and/or video recordings), explain how the data will be stored and when the identifiable data will be deidentified/destroyed.
Related UMaine Guidance
If you plan to collect data internationally, please refer to our International Human Subjects Research guidance.
If you will collect data via social media, please refer to our Social Media Guidance.
Need help determining if your project requires IRB review? Please refer to our frequently asked questions page or our Does My Study Require IRB Review? Flowchart (PDF) (Plain Text Version: Does My Study Require IRB Review? [Word]).
To determine if your research qualifies as exempt, you can review the Exemption Categories.
Resources
- Carleton College IRB: A Note on Participant Observation (external link)
- Loma Linda University: Observational Guidance (Word) (external link)
- University of Virginia IRB: Observations