Deception in Research

Deception in human participant research involves not informing the participants of all aspects of the study because if the participants were told all about the research design and its purpose in advance, it would not be possible to do the research.   Therefore, the participants cannot give full informed consent.   Deception involves actively misleading participants about the purpose of the study, the research design, or certain required elements of participation because it would not be possible to do the research if participants knew the intent.  Deception does not mean wording consent documents carefully so as not to lead or bias participants.

In order for the IRB to approve a research study involving deception, the investigator must demonstrate in the IRB application that

  1. The use of deceptive techniques is justified by the study’s value and that effective non-deceptive alternative procedures are not feasible;
  2. Procedures in the study cannot be reasonably expected to cause physical pain or serious psychological or social distress; and
  3. As early as feasible, preferably at the conclusion of participation, but no later than at the conclusion of the data collection, the investigator informs the participants about the deception, and permits participants to withdraw their data.

The use of deception requires waiver of certain elements of informed consent which must be fully explained in the IRB application.

The following statement, or some similar statement, should appear in every consent form/information sheet for studies involving deception:

Research designs often require that the full intent of the study not be explained prior to participation. Although we have described the general nature of the tasks that you will be asked to perform, the full intent of the study will not be explained to you until after the completion of the study. At that time, we will provide you with a full debriefing which will include an explanation of the hypothesis that was tested and other relevant background information pertaining to the study. You will also be given an opportunity to ask any question you might have about the hypothesis and the procedures used in the study. *

* Yale University

The plan for debriefing participants must be included in the IRB application.


Created: October 16, 2009