Consent Form Wizard: a tool for creating informed consents
Informed consent from participants — covering both the data collection process and subsequent data publishing — is a critical component of research involving surveys or any interaction with human participants.
A well-drafted informed consent form is crucial for ethical research involving human participants and ensures legal compliance. Setting up this process properly not only facilitates future data management but also guarantees that data can be reused in future scholarly work and shared in accordance with Open Science principles.
This is where the Consent Form Wizard (CFW) can help. It was developed by the ELDAH working group (Ethics and Legality in Digital Arts and Humanities) within DARIAH-EU (Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities).
CFW acts as an interactive questionnaire that generates an informed consent form in English based on the researcher's responses regarding data collection methods and intended data sharing.
Key Features and Practical Information:
- Output Format: The consent form is generated as plain text (.txt), making it easy to edit, integrate into online survey platforms, or print.
- Accessibility: The tool is completely free and requires no registration. To protect user privacy, the system does not store entered data or allow in-progress questionnaires to be saved; it must be completed and downloaded in a single session.
- International Relevance: CFW is tailored to the European regulatory framework. If your data collection and sharing setup poses specific legal or ethical risks, the tool will alert you. In all cases, expert legal review is recommended to ensure compliance with national legislation.
The first question of the questionnaire sets the scenario for the consent form's intended use. The tool is not limited strictly to scientific research; it can also be used to obtain consent from university event participants for taking and sharing audiovisual recordings (such as photographs) for promotional purposes.
The tool and additional information about it are available at the following link: Consent Form Wizard
The tool is intended as a methodological guidance and aid, not as a substitute for official legal advice. Full responsibility for the final wording of the consent form and its practical application remains with the project leader, researcher, or event organizer.