# Informed consent

Informed consent is an ethical cornerstone of research. It ensures participants are fully aware of what they're committing to and that they participate voluntarily, understanding any risks or benefits. Cognition recognizes the importance of this step and has built-in features to seamlessly integrate informed consent into your tasks.

#### **1. Attaching Informed Consent**

As a researcher, you have the ability to:

* Attach an informed consent document directly to your tasks, ensuring participants encounter this crucial step right from the beginning.

#### **2. Mandatory Acceptance**

For tasks that have attached informed consents:

* Participants must explicitly accept the terms laid out in the informed consent before accessing the main task.
* This built-in measure ensures that every participant has at least been presented with and acknowledged the consent form.

#### **3. Printing Options**

To further enhance transparency and participant confidence:

* Cognition allows participants to print the informed consent document. This way, they can retain a physical copy for their records, if desired.

#### **4. Recording Consent Actions**

To keep an accurate record of participant interactions with the consent form:

* Cognition logs the exact time a participant accesses the consent form.
* Additionally, whether the participant accepts or rejects the informed consent is also recorded, ensuring you have a clear trail of participant decisions.

#### **5. Setting Up Informed Consent**

Making your informed consent accessible to participants is straightforward:

* Navigate to the Task's page.
* Here, you can set up the informed consent using markdown, a lightweight markup language that allows you to format text easily.

#### **6. Fallback URL for Rejections**

Research ethics require that participants have an easy way to exit a study if they choose not to participate:

* In Cognition, you can specify a fallback URL.
* If a participant opts to reject the informed consent, they will be automatically redirected to this URL, ensuring a smooth exit from the study.

In conclusion, Cognition’s approach to informed consent emphasizes both participant rights and research ethics. The platform makes it easy to integrate, present, and track informed consent, ensuring that every step of the research process aligns with best practices and ethical considerations.


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