I’d like to share my letter to two UNH professors on their inability to follow ethical guidelines when administering controversial surveys to children in schools.
Dear Professor Baynard and Professor Simpson:
Here is a link to a news story reporting about an incident involving a parent whose child was surveyed at a school recently. In the story, they report that an invasive and controversial survey was administered on behalf of a research project for UNH. The child who was surveyed was 10 years old.
The parent indicates that her informed consent was not required before her daughter was asked about sexual partners or her sexual identity on the survey.
The school administering the survey sent a letter to parents informing them that their child could opt out of the survey; however, the parent interviewed never received that letter.
New Hampshire recently enacted a law that requires informed consent before children can be surveyed in this manner. In the past, I’ve questioned the practices by UNH when gathering research on children through the schools. Ethical practices require informed consent when conducting research on individuals. In the case of a 10-year old, that would require informed consent from their parent/guardian.
It is unfortunate that local schools do not follow these codes of ethics when administering research on the children who attend their school. Excuses used in the past have centered around the inability to secure funding if parents were required to provide consent. In other words, schools and community organizations have ignored ethical boundaries in favor of dollars. The myth that these surveys are anonymous has also been addressed by data-security experts.
In the past, I’ve witnessed representatives from UNH oppose laws that mirror these ethical guidelines. This, in spite of your past claims that UNH complies with the ethical principles from The Belmont Report and, the American Psychological Association’s ethical guidelines.
While Vermont may not have the same law in place for their children, it continues to astound me that UNH is not requiring this ethical practice from school administrators when conducting research on children. Would this not be a requirement for licensing in New Hampshire?
Have you made any offers of compensation to your research subjects?
I’m copying members of the New Hampshire Board of Education and legislators on this e-mail. Since they are responsible for the state budget that includes funding for UNH, I would like them to see that ethical protocols still seem to be ignored by UNH. I’d also like to again, thank those who supported legislation that helps protect children attending public schools in New Hampshire.
Sincerely,
Ann Marie Banfield
Education Liaison
Cornerstone Action
