In collaboration with First Clinical Research, each month we share a new question and accompanying anonymous survey, designed to encourage critical thinking about questions in clinical research and highlight discussion generated by the prior month’s question.

This month’s question:

You are a member of a local IRB reviewing an influenza vaccine study. The investigator wants to ask enrolled study participants to help recruit additional study participants. The investigator wants to express her gratitude for this assistance. She has asked the IRB whether tangible expressions of gratitude, e.g., cash, would be acceptable.

What expressions of gratitude would be acceptable to you? Read the full question and give us your answer.

May’s Question of the Month asked how respondents would prioritize various concerns in choosing who, among a diverse list of hypothetical subjects, they would invite to participate in a study.

A large plurality of the respondents who would utilize specific criteria said that they would invite whoever benefitted most from the study:

38% [of respondents] would take into account the person who is most likely to benefit the study.

Only small numbers of respondents would take into account any of the other factors.

There was more variation inresponses to the meta-question of whether or not individuals would use the specific criteria from the above question at all; 31.1% of respondents would use one of the criteria, whereas 28% said they would choose randomly.

The Question of the Month also appears on the IRB Forum. The IRB Forum is a robust community of IRB professionals engaged in an ongoing discussion of the latest issues and questions that arise for human subjects protections professionals. An account is free, and gives you access to an invaluable resource—the insight of your peers.

PRIM&R thanks Norm Goldfarb of First Clinical Research for allowing us to share this feature with our community!