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Resources :: Guide :: Participant pools :: Educational debriefing :: Information included in a debriefing statement

What Information Should Be Included in a Debriefing Statement?

The debriefing statement needs to explain three elements:

  1. Why the experiment was developed and why the deception was necessary.
  2. What the current research says about the topic, which includes providing two references (text, article, on-line reference) that the participants can reasonably access and understand (if you have an academic and non-academic population, you may need to provide more than one version of the debriefing statement or make sure that the references can be accessed by the least educated of the population).
  3. Any additional resources that would be useful for the participant. Resources need to be appropriate and accessible for the participants. For example, if you are conducting a study on parenting, you could include community resources for parenting classes or recommendations for parenting guides.
Please keep the information clear and concise, and make sure to include contact information for the IRB-SBS. The debriefing statement will be reviewed by the IRB-SBS and may be reviewed by the approval committee for the participant pool, so it is important that you provide an adequate document that won’t need revisions from multiple committees.

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