Participant information sheet and consent form: what to include

A participant information sheet (PIS) is the document you give potential participants before they agree to take part in your research. It explains in plain English what the study is about, what taking part involves, what will happen to their data and what their rights are, so that their consent is informed. It usually comes with a consent form, which records what they agreed to.

What a participant information sheet is for

The sheet does two jobs. Ethically, it makes consent informed: one of the core principles in the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics is that ‘wherever possible, participation should be voluntary and appropriately informed’. Legally, it is usually where participants get the privacy information that data protection law requires when you collect personal data from them, such as an interview recording. Universities give it different names, such as information sheet, information letter or participant information.

Use your own university’s participant information sheet template and follow its ethics process. Most universities provide a template, often with set wording on data protection that you should not change, and the ethics committee will expect to see it. Nothing here replaces that template, the university’s procedures or your supervisor’s advice.

Ethics approval, UK GDPR and the HRA

At UK universities, a dissertation that involves interviews normally needs ethics approval before you contact any participants. Low-risk student projects often go through a lighter review in the department, while projects with vulnerable participants or sensitive topics go to a research ethics committee for fuller scrutiny. Your information sheet and consent form are part of the application, so draft them early.

Data protection law applies alongside ethics. In the UK, that means the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. For a student project, your university usually decides the lawful basis for processing participants’ data, and you copy its wording. Many universities use ‘task in the public interest’ for research, which is what the HRA advises for universities doing health and social care research; others use consent. The HRA also points out that participants consent to take part in the study, which is not the same as consenting to the processing of their data under data protection law.

Research in the NHS adds a further step. HRA and HCRW Approval applies to project-based research in the NHS in England and Wales, including research with NHS staff. Most studies also need review by an NHS research ethics committee, but studies that involve only NHS staff in their professional role usually do not. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own processes. The HRA’s student research page says it does not accept health and social care research applications from students at undergraduate level and turns down some from master’s students, who should check its student research toolkit first.

Outside the UK the rules differ. The GDPR applies in the EU and the EEA, Switzerland has its own data protection act, and whether a student project needs ethics review depends on the country, the field and the university. In Norway, for example, students at institutions with an agreement with Sikt usually notify Sikt of their project when they process personal data.

What to include in a participant information sheet

Templates differ, but most cover the points below, often under questions a participant might ask. The HRA’s consent and participant information guidance, written for health and social care research, is a useful model.

1. 1

   What the study is about

   Who you are, the purpose of the study and why it matters, in a few sentences. Say that it is a student project and who supervises it.
2. 2

   Why they have been invited

   How you found them and why they fit the study. Both the ESRC and the HRA recommend explaining this.
3. 3

   That taking part is voluntary, and how to withdraw

   They can say no, skip questions, stop the interview and withdraw later without giving a reason. The ESRC asks researchers to state the point after which data has been anonymised and combined with other data and may no longer be removable; some projects give a date. Do not promise more than your university’s privacy information allows.
4. 4

   What taking part involves

   How long the interview takes, where it happens, what kind of questions you will ask, and that it will be audio- or video-recorded and transcribed. Mention sensitive topics in advance.
5. 5

   Risks and benefits

   Be honest and proportionate. For many interview studies the main costs are time and possible discomfort with a topic, and there may be no direct benefit. Say what support is available if the topic could be distressing.
6. 6

   Confidentiality and anonymisation

   How you will pseudonymise transcripts and quotes, who can hear the recording, and the limits. People in a small group may recognise each other in quotes, and the ESRC asks researchers to make the limits to confidentiality clear, for example if someone is at risk of serious harm.
7. 7

   Storage and retention

   Where recordings, transcripts and consent forms will be kept, who has access, and when they will be deleted or anonymised, following your university’s retention rules. If you hope to archive or share the data, say so.
8. 8

   Contacts and complaints

   Your contact details and your supervisor’s, the data protection officer’s, and a contact independent of the project for complaints, as the HRA guidance recommends.

The data protection information

When personal data is collected directly from people, Article 13 of the UK GDPR, and of the GDPR in the EU, sets out what they must be told at that point; Article 14 covers data obtained from other sources. The ICO’s guidance on the right to be informed lists the items and asks for concise, clear and plain language. Your university normally supplies most of this wording, often in a privacy notice your sheet links to. Check that the sheet covers:

Do not overclaim. Avoid writing that the data are ‘anonymous’ while you still hold the recordings or the key to the pseudonyms: the ICO is clear that pseudonymised data is personal data in the hands of someone who holds the additional information.

Telling participants where the recording is processed

If you transcribe, store or analyse recordings with an online service, the sheet must say so: the service is a recipient of the data, and storing files in another country, such as the US, is an international transfer. Many universities decide which apps and equipment are approved for interviews with personal data, and some approve neither phones’ built-in recorders nor third-party apps. Find out which tools your university allows before you write the sheet.

Check your university’s rules before you upload recordings anywhere: a voice identifies the speaker, so a recording is personal data even without names. Spirelight offers no data processing agreement; your university, not you, would sign one. Transcription runs on EU servers, files are stored with Google Firebase in the US, and AI features run on OpenAI in the US, which your ethics application and participant information sheet must state. On the sheet, that means naming Spirelight and the services it uses: AssemblyAI, which transcribes the audio on servers in the EU, Google Firebase, which stores the files in the US, and OpenAI in the US if you use the AI summary or chat. Ask the ethics committee or data protection office whether that is acceptable before you recruit anyone.

Where your university allows it, you can send each participant Spirelight’s digital consent form before a recorded call and then transcribe the interview in the same account. The participant reads the form, signs in the browser and receives a copy by email with a link to withdraw consent later. Their name, address, email address and signature are also stored with Google Firebase in the US. Templates exist in English and Danish only.

The form does not replace your university’s information sheet or consent process. Its text is fixed apart from details such as the study title and retention period, and it has one signature rather than separate boxes for recording and quotes. It lists data protection rights as if consent were the lawful basis, including withdrawal at any time, which may not match your withdrawal deadline, and it does not mention AI features. Use it only if your committee approves it as part of your application, and give participants the university’s sheet too.

The consent form

According to the ESRC’s guidance on consent, research should not normally go ahead until participants have indicated their consent and it has been recorded, usually with a signed form. Consent is also a process rather than a one-off signature, so confirm it again at the start of the recording.

Many UK templates follow the pattern in the HRA’s consent form guidance: a list of statements, each with a box the participant initials, ticks or answers yes or no, then signatures and the date. Typical statements for an interview study:

• I have read the information sheet dated [date] and had the chance to ask questions.
• I understand that taking part is voluntary and that I can withdraw until [date] without giving a reason.
• I agree to the interview being audio-recorded and transcribed.
• I agree to anonymised quotes being used in the dissertation and any publications.
• I agree that my anonymised transcript may be archived for future research (optional).
• I agree to take part in this study.

Ask separately for anything optional. The HRA lists audio or video recording, verbatim quotes and transfer of data outside the EEA among items that can have their own box, and the ESRC expects specific consent, as far as possible, for archiving and sharing data. Offer only options you can honour: the HRA warns against offering choices unless you can deliver every combination. If someone agrees to the interview but not the recording, you need a plan for taking notes instead. Give each participant a copy of the signed form.

Writing it in plain English

The HRA’s style guidance says potential participants should be able to understand the sheet on the first reading. Its advice works well for student projects:

• Use short, familiar words and short sentences, and explain technical terms.
• Use the active voice: ‘I will record the interview’, not ‘the interview will be recorded’.
• Use short headings that stand out, such as ‘What will happen if I take part?’
• Make it as long as it needs to be; a sheet that is too long may not be read in full.
• Test it on someone outside your field before you submit it.

If your participants read English as a second language, avoid words with double or nuanced meanings, as the HRA advises, and ask your university whether it expects a translated version.

Invented example: an information sheet excerpt

The study and wording below are invented. Text in square brackets marks what you would take from your university’s template or fill in yourself.