Zoom Guidance for IRB Studies

When using Zoom technology, at a minimum, please follow the guidelines outlined below:

  • Participants should be reminded to protect their privacy by completing activities in a private and quiet space, to ensure conversations are not overheard and ensure that there are minimal interruptions.
  • Researcher should establish ground rules with participants; this could include not taking screen shots, not recording the session, etc.
  • Passwords should be used for Zoom meetings with research participants.
  • Participants should be told how and where Zoom recordings are saved.

Recordings

Disable Cloud Recordings

To disable Cloud Recordings on your Zoom account (this is the preferred setting for recordings) follow the steps below. This enables you to save both audio and video files of Zoom recordings to your computer.

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Settings.
  3. Click the Recordings tab.
  4. Click the Cloud Recording toggle to disable it.
  5. If a verification dialog appears, click Disable to verify the change.

If needed, to re-enable Cloud Recordings on your Zoom account at a later time, revisit these steps and click the Cloud Recording toggle to re-enable it.

Using Cloud Recordings

In some cases, it may be necessary for you to use Cloud Recordings in order to utilize Zoom’s audio transcription feature. If you would like to create Cloud Recordings, participants must provide their consent. You must include the following information in the “Confidentiality” section of the consent form:

  • Tell participants that recordings will be stored on the Zoom Cloud and tell them when those recordings will be deleted (recordings should be deleted as soon as possible from the Zoom Cloud).
  • Tell participants that the recordings are subject to Zoom’s privacy policy (external link).

You have flexibility on how to present Zoom information to participants. Reminders can be part of consent form or recruitment script, or at the beginning of the Zoom session.

HIPAA Compliance

Important note: The free and regular paid versions of Zoom are not Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant and should not be used for any study involving the collection or use of protected health information (PHI).