Templates (Participant Information Sheet and Agreement Form)

A participant must be informed about the purpose, methods and intended possible uses of the research, what their participation will involve and what risks, if any, they might encounter. This detail enables them to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to take part in your research. Provide your participants with a suitable Participant Information Sheet and Agreement Form, allowing sufficient time for a participant to reflect/ask questions before they agree to take part. Participation should be voluntary and free from coercion.

There are a number of templates available (see sections below) – please download the templates that are appropriate to you and the research project you will be undertaking.

Participant Information Sheet and Agreement Form Templates for use by undergraduate and postgraduate taught students

Please log on to your student account in order to access these documents.

PI Sheet templates to use when running an interview or focus group:

Participant Information Sheet Template – general use (updated January 2023)
Participant Information Sheet Template – Parents/Guardian (required if recruiting children as research participants) (updated 24 January 2024)

PI Sheet templates to use when running an onlline survey or questionnaire:

Anonymised Questionnaires (not collecting identifiable personal information about a research participant):

Participant Information Sheet Template for questionnaires/online survey (template updated 24 January 2023)

If collecting identifiable personal information:

Participant Agreement Form Templates:

Participant Information Sheet Templates for use by staff and postgraduate research students

If you’re collecting data via a questionnaire, see “Participant Information Sheets for an online survey/questionnaire - for use by ALL“.

Participant Information Sheet Template – general use (updated 8 August 2023)
Parent/Guardian Information Sheet Template – Parents/Guardian (required if recruiting children as research participants) (updated 24 January 2023)

Participant Information Sheets for an online survey/questionnaire (for use by Staff and Postgraduate Researchers)

Anonymised Questionnaires (not collecting identifiable personal information about a research participant):

Participant Information Sheet Template for questionnaires/online survey (template updated 10 August 2023)

If collecting identifiable personal information:

Participant Information Sheet Template for questionnaires/online survey (template updated 1 January 2023)

Participant Agreement Form Templates (general use by staff and postgraduate researchers)

Examples of Information Sheets/Assent Forms for children (when recruiting children as research participants)

• Exemplar Participant Assent Form (kindly provided by Dr Fiona Ling)
• Exemplar Participant Information Sheet/Assent Form (kindly provided by Mark Moseley, PGR)
• External guidance on how to produce an information sheet for children (http://www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/consent/examples.html) – please refer to section ‘Children and Young people (UK wide)‘
• Global kids Online provides tools and example participant agreement forms for working with children and schools (http://globalkidsonline.net/tools/qualitative/)
• Health Research Authority guidance with regard to readability, including external resources/tools you can use.
• Autistica - External resource for examples of Information Sheet and Agreement Forms
• Down Syndrome Association - External resource - Information Sheet exemplar

What Young People want to know (see Top Tips for more detail) - provided by the HRA/NHS

• What is it for? What is your aim?
• How long is the activity going to take?
• What is the activity.
• What will we have to do?
• Will we have the same Researcher from start to finish?
• Do we have to go ahead with it?
• Do we have a choice?
• Are there any risks? Is it safe?

Deputy Deans for Research & Professional Practice

• Professor Lee Miles - Business School
• Professor Jane Murphy - Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
• Professor Tiantian Zhang - Faculty of Science & Technology
• Professor Scott Wright - Faculty of Media & Communication

Remember .

Depending on your research, you may need to consider using a number of different forms or adapted version of the forms as follows:

• Participant Information Sheet – Adults
• Participant Information Sheet – Children/Young People
• Parent/Guardian Information Sheet
• Agreement form for Adults
• Agreement form for parent/guardians
• Assent form (for children/young people who are agreeing to take part (under 16)).

When involving children with a wide age range, it might be appropriate to provide separate PI Sheets for the different age groups. Always tailor your PI Sheet to the participant.

Research activities such as data collection should not commence until your ethics checklist (including participant information/agreement forms if relevant) has been reviewed and your checklist approved online.

Get in Touch

If you have a question about research ethics, please contact the RDS Governance Team via email

Useful Documents

• Research Ethics Code of Practice
• Code of Good Research Practice
• Research Data Policy
• Frequently Asked Questions (for staff)
• Frequently Asked Questions (for UG/PGT students)
• Frequently Asked Questions (For PGRs)
• Research and Data Protection
• Research Misconduct: Policy & Procedure