May 2014
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES IRB
Guidance on the Use of Deception and Incomplete Disclosure in
Research
Deception is a method used in social science research that can improve the internal validity
of a research study. The intention of deception is to produce a false belief in the participants
during the course of the study. Incomplete disclosure of information may also be used in
research where telling the subject about some aspect of the study in detail might interfere
with the ability to measure the outcome of interest. The use of deception and incomplete
disclosure in human subjects research raises special problems for the IRB to consider with
regard to informed consent and analysis of risks and benefits. Unethical uses of deception in
research can cause distress to those being deceived, and may undermine public trust in the
research enterprise.
DEFINITIONS:
Deception: When an investigator gives false information to subjects or intentionally
misleads them about some key aspect of the research.
Examples:
• Participants complete a quiz, and are falsely told that they did very poorly, regardless of
their actual performance.
• The study includes a researcher’s “confederate” (an individual who poses as a participant)
but whose behavior in the study is actually part of the researcher’s experimental design.
Incomplete Disclosure: When the investigator withholds some information about the real
purpose of the study, or the nature of the research procedures.
Example:
• Participants are asked to complete a task for research, but are not given an explanation of
the purpose of the research.
Potential Risks/Harms of Deception/Incomplete Disclosure to consider:
• Feel coerced to have acted against one’s will
• Might not have chosen to participate if fully informed
• If observed, subject may feel invasion of privacy
• Damage to self-esteem; feeling ashamed, guilty, stressed, embarrassed
• Forced to have knowledge about self that otherwise might not want to know
• Feel loss of control, may be distrustful/suspicious
Requesting IRB approval for the use of Deception/Incomplete Disclosure:
For research that plans to use deception/incomplete disclosure, the IRB may allow for the
waiver/alteration of the general requirements for informed consent if the study meets the
regulatory criteria for a waiver/alteration of consent. When required elements of informed
consent are waived or altered by the IRB, participants must be debriefed at the end of the
study, when appropriate. When a research study involves use of deception, the IRB must
find that the study satisfies the following regulatory criteria:
1) the research involves no more than minimal risk to participants
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2) the waiver or alteration will not adversely affect the rights and welfare of the
participants;
3) the research could not practicably be carried out without the alteration or waiver; and
4) when appropriate, participants will be provided with additional pertinent information
regarding participation.
If you plan to use deception or incomplete disclosure, you should request an Alteration of
Consent in Section 16 of your protocol submission form in AURA and provide any debriefing
script/form that you plan to use. Your explanation in the AURA protocol submission should
indicate who will debrief participants, when participants will be debriefed, and provide a
rationale for any elements of the deception that will not be revealed to participants.
Suggested consent form language: When appropriate, subjects could be informed
prospectively of the use of deception/incomplete disclosure and consent to its use. For
example, the consent form could say:
“Some research requires that the full purpose of the study not be explained before you
participate. We will give you a full explanation at the end of the study.” The last sentence
can be further customized to say, “We will give you a full explanation as soon as you
complete the study.”
The Debriefing Process
The debriefing must occur “when appropriate.” It may be inappropriate when debriefing
regarding the deception may cause more harm than the deception itself. For example, if
individuals were selected for participation in a study based upon certain “negative”
behaviors/characteristics, it might not be appropriate for the debriefing to describe that
aspect of the selection process.
The timing of the debriefing is also an important consideration. The IRB expects that
participants will be debriefed as early in the research as is feasible, generally no later than
when the individual participant has completed the research tasks. If the study is ongoing
and the researcher is concerned that subjects who have already participated may tell others
about it and possibly bias the results, appropriate language can be included in the debriefing
statement (e.g., “We urge you not to discuss this study with anyone else who is currently
participating or might participate at a future time. As you can certainly appreciate, we will
not be able to examine [the research topic] in participants who know about the true
purpose of the project beforehand.”)
A template to use for preparing a debriefing statement is on the SBS IRB website at
https://sbsirb.uchicago.edu/page/consent-form-templates-and-examples. The IRB will
decide on a case-by-case basis whether it is necessary to re-consent subjects to use study
data obtained under deceptive premises. In cases that involve only incomplete disclosure, a
debriefing form that gives additional information about the study but does not ask for reconsent will usually be acceptable. In contrast, when deception at the time of subject
enrollment/consent is likely to have influenced the subject’s decision about whether to
participate in the research, or when the deception would likely be perceived by the subject
as an invasion of privacy, the subject’s permission to use the research data will usually be
required.
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Note on American Psychological Association standards for use of deception:
The American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of
Conduct (available online at http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=11) include
guidelines on the use of deception and debriefing. See 8.07 and 8.08:
8.07 Deception in Research
(a) Psychologists do not conduct a study involving deception unless they have determined
that the use of deceptive techniques is justified by the study's significant prospective
scientific, educational or applied value and that effective nondeceptive alternative
procedures are not feasible.
(b) Psychologists do not deceive prospective participants about research that is reasonably
expected to cause physical pain or severe emotional distress.
(c) Psychologists explain any deception that is an integral feature of the design and conduct
of an experiment to participants as early as is feasible, preferably at the conclusion of their
participation, but no later than at the conclusion of the data collection, and permit
participants to withdraw their data. (See also Standard 8.08, Debriefing.)
8.08 Debriefing
(a) Psychologists provide a prompt opportunity for participants to obtain appropriate
information about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research, and they take
reasonable steps to correct any misconceptions that participants may have of which the
psychologists are aware.
(b) If scientific or humane values justify delaying or withholding this information,
psychologists take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of harm.
(c) When psychologists become aware that research procedures have harmed a participant,
they take reasonable steps to minimize the harm.
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