A good, understandable informed consent form (ICF) is key to ethical medical research, and the ICF is necessary according to United States federal regulation. Since they may be written in complex technical language, ICFs are often difficult for subjects to understand. The purpose of this research was to evaluate students' understanding of terminology commonly used in the ICF. An online research survey was sent to active students of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) during the winter 2015 semester. Questions were asked to evaluate the students' understanding of the correct meaning of the terms used in medical research. The majority of students understood common terminology used in informed consents, but they were confused about the meaning of the term \"Clinical Research/Trial\" and the location where the clinical studies were conducted. Therefore, investigators and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) need to be aware of these potentially confusing items when writing an ICF.
","abstract_html":"<p>A good, understandable informed consent form (ICF) is key to ethical medical research, and the ICF is necessary according to United States federal regulation. Since they may be written in complex technical language, ICFs are often difficult for subjects to understand. The purpose of this research was to evaluate students' understanding of terminology commonly used in the ICF. An online research survey was sent to active students of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) during the winter 2015 semester. Questions were asked to evaluate the students' understanding of the correct meaning of the terms used in medical research. The majority of students understood common terminology used in informed consents, but they were confused about the meaning of the term "Clinical Research/Trial" and the location where the clinical studies were conducted. Therefore, investigators and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) need to be aware of these potentially confusing items when writing an ICF.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Garapati, Kishore"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Health Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Irwin Martin, Ph.D., Chair","Stephen Sonstein, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-07-14T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-07-14T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:06Z","subjects":["informed consent form","ethical medical research","terminology","medical research","Bioethics and Medical Ethics","Investigative Techniques"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/627","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Irwin Martin, Ph.D., Chair","Stephen Sonstein, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Garapati, Kishore"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-02-22T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Health Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["informed consent form","ethical medical research","terminology","medical research","Bioethics and Medical Ethics","Investigative Techniques"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/627"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A good, understandable informed consent form (ICF) is key to ethical medical research, and the ICF is necessary according to United States federal regulation. Since they may be written in complex technical language, ICFs are often difficult for subjects to understand. The purpose of this research was to evaluate students' understanding of terminology commonly used in the ICF. An online research survey was sent to active students of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) during the winter 2015 semester. Questions were asked to evaluate the students' understanding of the correct meaning of the terms used in medical research. The majority of students understood common terminology used in informed consents, but they were confused about the meaning of the term \"Clinical Research/Trial\" and the location where the clinical studies were conducted. Therefore, investigators and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) need to be aware of these potentially confusing items when writing an ICF.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["College student understanding of informed consent terminology"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Irwin Martin, Ph.D., Chair","Stephen Sonstein, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["Garapati, Kishore"],"dc:date.available":["2016-02-22T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["A good, understandable informed consent form (ICF) is key to ethical medical research, and the ICF is necessary according to United States federal regulation. Since they may be written in complex technical language, ICFs are often difficult for subjects to understand. The purpose of this research was to evaluate students' understanding of terminology commonly used in the ICF. An online research survey was sent to active students of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) during the winter 2015 semester. Questions were asked to evaluate the students' understanding of the correct meaning of the terms used in medical research. The majority of students understood common terminology used in informed consents, but they were confused about the meaning of the term \"Clinical Research/Trial\" and the location where the clinical studies were conducted. Therefore, investigators and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) need to be aware of these potentially confusing items when writing an ICF.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/627"],"dc:subject":["informed consent form","ethical medical research","terminology","medical research","Bioethics and Medical Ethics","Investigative Techniques"],"dc:title":["College student understanding of informed consent terminology"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Health Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:06Z"}