IRB Interview Consent Form
Free Template — Fill & Download
A free IRB-compliant interview consent form meeting 45 CFR 46 federal requirements. Used at Penn State, SNHU, UCL, University of Edinburgh, UTS, and more. Fill online and download as PDF or Word instantly.
✏️ Fill Out Your IRB Consent Form Online
PURPOSE: You are invited to participate in a research interview. The purpose of this study is _______________.
VOLUNTARY: Participation is completely voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty or loss of benefits.
RECORDING: This interview will be audio and/or video recorded.
CONFIDENTIALITY: All responses will be kept fully anonymous. Data will be stored securely and accessible only to the research team.
Researcher Signature: _________________________ Date: _________
What Is an IRB and Why Does It Require a Consent Form?
An Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an independent committee required by US federal law to review and approve research involving human subjects before data collection begins. The IRB system was established under 45 CFR 46 (the Common Rule), overseen by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).
Every university and federally-funded research institution in the United States is required to have an IRB. The board reviews research protocols to ensure that participant rights are protected, risks are minimised, and the research meets the ethical principles established by the Belmont Report — respect for persons, beneficence, and justice.
For interview research, the IRB requires a signed informed consent form before any interview takes place. The consent form documents that the participant has been fully informed about the study, understands their rights, and has voluntarily agreed to participate. An informed interview consent form used in IRB-regulated research must include specific elements mandated by 45 CFR 46.116 that a general interview consent form does not require.
IRB Consent Form vs. Standard Interview Consent Form
| Element | IRB Form | Standard Form |
|---|---|---|
| Study title & researcher name | ✓ | ✓ |
| IRB protocol number | ✓ | — |
| IRB approval & expiry dates | ✓ | — |
| IRB office contact information | ✓ | — |
| Risks and benefits statement | ✓ Required | Optional |
| Compensation disclosure | ✓ Required | Optional |
| Mandatory reporting obligations | ✓ Required | — |
| Voluntary participation statement | ✓ | ✓ |
| Signature lines | ✓ | ✓ |
Source: 45 CFR 46.116 — HHS.gov
Which IRB Review Type Does Your Interview Study Need?
Under 45 CFR 46, interview research falls into one of three review categories. Your review type determines whether a signed IRB consent form is required or whether a waiver may apply.
Exempt Review
Most qualitative interview studies with adults on non-sensitive topics qualify for exempt status under Category 2 of 45 CFR 46.104. The IRB still reviews the protocol, but the study is exempt from continuing review. A simple consent form or waiver of documentation may apply, but participants must still be informed.
Expedited Review
Studies covering sensitive topics — mental health, criminal behaviour, illegal activities, financial information, or interviews with vulnerable populations — typically require expedited review. A full signed IRB interview consent form is required. This is the most common category for research interview consent forms.
Full Board Review
Interviews involving prisoners, children, pregnant women, or studies with greater than minimal risk require full board review. A comprehensive informed interview consent form with all 45 CFR 46.116 elements is mandatory. Parent or guardian consent is additionally required for minor participants.
What to Include in an IRB Interview Consent Form
All 13 elements below are required by federal regulations for IRB-approved interview research. Missing any element can result in your protocol being returned by the IRB.
- ✓IRB Protocol Number, Approval Date & Expiry DateProvided by your IRB office after initial protocol submission.
- ✓IRB Office Contact InformationParticipants must be told who to contact with questions about their rights as research subjects.
- ✓Principal Investigator Name, Credentials & DepartmentFull name, degree, institutional affiliation, and direct contact information.
- ✓Plain-Language Study PurposeWritten at an 8th-grade reading level. Avoid technical jargon.
- ✓Description of Interview Procedures & DurationWhat participants will be asked, how long the interview recording will last, and how data will be used.
- ✓Statement of Foreseeable RisksFor most qualitative interview research: "risks are minimal and no greater than those encountered in everyday life."
- ✓Statement of BenefitsDirect benefits to participants (if any) and indirect benefits to society or the field.
- ✓Confidentiality & Data Protection MeasuresDescribe storage method, access controls, anonymisation approach, and data retention period. Reference your informed consent obligations.
- ✓Compensation DisclosureState compensation offered, or "You will receive no compensation for participating in this study."
- ✓Mandatory Reporting ObligationsAny limits to confidentiality (e.g., duty to report child abuse or imminent harm) must be disclosed upfront.
- ✓Voluntary Participation & Withdrawal StatementParticipants must know they can withdraw at any time without penalty or loss of any benefits they are otherwise entitled to.
- ✓Separate Recording Consent CheckboxesAudio recording and video recording must be separate opt-in choices. Participants can consent to participation but decline recording.
- ✓Participant & Researcher Signature LinesPrinted name, signature, and date for both participant and researcher. For minor participants, add a parent or guardian signature line.
45 CFR 46 — The Common Rule
The required elements above come directly from 45 CFR 46.116, the section of the federal Common Rule governing informed consent. This regulation was substantially revised in 2018 (the "Revised Common Rule") and applies to all federally-funded research at US institutions.
Non-federally-funded research is not legally required to follow 45 CFR 46, but most universities require compliance regardless of funding source as a condition of institutional accreditation.
FDA-regulated research (clinical trials) follows a parallel but slightly different set of consent requirements under 21 CFR 50.25. For interview-based qualitative research, 45 CFR 46 is the applicable regulation.
IRB Interview Consent Form — Full Sample Text
Copy the sample below, or download the PDF template for a formatted, ready-to-use version. Adapt the bracketed fields to your specific study.
IRB INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM Study Title: [Study Title] Principal Investigator: [Name, Degree], [Department] Institution: [University Name] IRB Protocol Number: [XXXXXXXX] Approval Date: [Date] | Expiry Date: [Date] PI Contact: [Email] | [Phone] IRB Office Contact: [IRB Office Name], [Email], [Phone] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ APPROVAL STATEMENT This research has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of [University Name] under Protocol #[XXXXXXXX]. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, contact the IRB office at [IRB contact information]. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ PURPOSE OF RESEARCH You are invited to participate in a research study examining [research topic]. The purpose of this study is to [1–2 sentence description of research aims and significance]. PROCEDURES If you agree to participate, you will be interviewed for approximately [duration]. The interview will cover [topic areas]. The interview will be conducted [format: in person / via Zoom / by phone] and [will / will not] be recorded. RISKS [Describe specific risks, or use:] Risks of participation are minimal and no greater than those encountered in everyday conversation. BENEFITS [State direct and indirect benefits, or:] There are no direct benefits to you for participating. However, your participation will contribute to [describe societal or scientific benefit]. CONFIDENTIALITY Your responses will be kept [anonymous / confidential]. All data will be [describe storage method]. Only [describe who has access] will have access to identifiable data. Data will be retained for [retention period] and then [destroyed / archived]. LIMITS TO CONFIDENTIALITY: [State any mandatory reporting obligations, e.g., duty to report imminent harm, child abuse, etc., OR state "There are no limits to confidentiality for this study."] VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. Refusal to participate will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may discontinue participation at any time without penalty. COMPENSATION [State compensation offered, or:] You will not receive compensation for participating in this study. QUESTIONS If you have questions about this research, contact [PI name] at [contact information]. For questions about your rights as a research participant or to report a research-related concern, contact [IRB office name] at [IRB contact information]. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CONSENT STATEMENT I have read and understood the information on this form. I have had the opportunity to ask questions. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I may withdraw at any time. Recording consent (please indicate): I agree to be AUDIO recorded: [ ] Yes [ ] No I agree to be VIDEO recorded: [ ] Yes [ ] No Participant Name (print): _______________________________ Participant Signature: _______________________________ Date: __________ Researcher Name (print): _______________________________ Researcher Signature: _______________________________ Date: __________
How to Write and Submit an IRB Interview Consent Form
Follow these five steps to create a compliant IRB interview consent form and successfully submit it with your research protocol.
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1
Determine Your IRB Review Category
Assess whether your interview study qualifies for exempt review, expedited review, or requires full board review under 45 CFR 46. Your review type determines the level of consent documentation required. Most qualitative interview research falls under exempt or expedited review.
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2
Include All 13 Required Elements
Complete all elements listed in the What to Include section above — particularly the IRB protocol number, approval dates, IRB office contact, risks and benefits statement, and separate recording consent checkboxes. Missing elements will cause your protocol to be returned. Compare your draft against your institution's IRB checklist before submission.
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3
Write in Plain Language (8th-Grade Reading Level)
The OHRP and all major IRBs require that consent forms be written in plain language understandable to your study population. Avoid technical jargon, legal terminology, and passive voice. Use "you" to address the participant directly. If your participants speak a language other than English, provide a translated consent form — an online interview consent form can be adapted for multilingual use.
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4
Add Separate Recording Consent Checkboxes
If your interview will be recorded, include separate yes/no checkboxes for audio recording and video recording. Participants should be able to consent to participation while declining to be recorded. This separation is required by most IRBs and follows best practice guidance from the OHRP. See the sample above for the exact wording.
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5
Submit Through Your Institution's IRB Portal
Upload your completed consent form alongside your research protocol through your institution's submission system. Common platforms include IRBNet, Cayuse IRB, IRBIS, and institution-specific portals. See the university-specific guidance below for SNHU, UCL, Penn State, and Edinburgh.
IRB Interview Consent Form by University
This template is designed to meet the requirements of major universities worldwide. Find your institution below for specific guidance on adapting the form and submitting your protocol.
SNHU Interview Consent Form
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) requires all student researchers to submit IRB protocols through the SNHU Center for Academic Excellence. The SNHU interview consent form must include the SNHU IRB protocol number, researcher's SNHU email, and a statement that the study has been reviewed by the SNHU IRB. This template closely mirrors SNHU's current format. Download and replace the institution name with "Southern New Hampshire University."
⬇ Download SNHU-Compatible TemplatePenn State IRB Interview Consent Form
Penn State University uses IRBNet for protocol submissions. The Penn State IRB consent form for interview research must reference the applicable Penn State IRB (Penn State has multiple IRBs for different research types). For qualitative interview research, most studies fall under the Social & Behavioral IRB. Templates must include Penn State's required certification language. This template adapts for Penn State with minor language modifications.
⬇ Download Penn State–Compatible TemplateUCL Interview Consent Form
University College London (UCL) uses an Ethics Review Committee (REC) rather than a US-style IRB. UCL researchers submit through the UCL Ethics Portal. The UCL interview consent form must reference the UCL Ethics Approval reference number and must comply with UK GDPR data protection requirements. Adapt this template to reference your UCL Ethics reference number instead of an IRB protocol number.
⬇ Download UCL-Compatible TemplateUniversity of Edinburgh Interview Consent Form
The University of Edinburgh requires ethics approval through the EASE (Edinburgh Research Ethics Process) for social science and humanities interview research. The University of Edinburgh consent form must include the ethics approval reference number and comply with both UK GDPR and the University's Data Protection Policy. This template provides the required structure — replace the protocol number field with your EASE reference number.
⬇ Download Edinburgh-Compatible TemplateUTS Interview Consent Form
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) requires Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval under the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. UTS interview consent forms must include the UTS HREC approval number and comply with the Australian Privacy Act. Adapt this template by replacing "IRB" with "HREC" and adding your UTS ethics approval reference.
⬇ Download UTS-Compatible TemplateAll Other Universities
This template follows the universal ethical research principles of the Belmont Report — the foundational framework behind all research ethics regulations worldwide, including 45 CFR 46, the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research, and the Australian National Statement. Regardless of your institution, adapt the template by replacing "[IRB Protocol Number]" with your institution's equivalent reference number and adjusting the institutional contact details.
View all interview consent form samples →IRB Written Consent for Interview: When Is It Required?
Under 45 CFR 46.117, IRB research generally requires written documentation of informed consent — meaning a signed paper or digital consent form. For interview research, this means participants must sign the IRB interview consent form before the interview begins, and you must retain a copy.
However, the IRB may waive the requirement for written documentation of consent (a "waiver of documentation") in specific circumstances: (1) the research presents no more than minimal risk and involves no procedures that require written consent outside the research context, or (2) the only record linking the participant to the research would be the consent document and the principal risk is a breach of confidentiality.
Even when a waiver of documentation is granted, participants must still receive an information sheet covering all consent elements — only the signature is waived. For online and telephone interviews, many IRBs accept digital signature or email-based consent as equivalent to a written signature.
Always consult your institution's IRB office before assuming a waiver applies. Using this interview consent form template and obtaining a signed copy is always the safest approach.
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Frequently Asked Questions About IRB Interview Consent Forms
Common questions about IRB requirements, federal regulations, and university-specific consent form guidance.