Hi Kattie, I recently went through the same process with my IRB, so maybe I can help. 1. Participant observation in "public areas" was not a major issue as far as consent concerned. 2. Participant observation in "guilds" is done with the consent of the guild master (usually announcement on guild website). Guild members/participants have the option to op-out. 3. Interviewing 13-17. Usually happens in VOIP settings. Participants first visit my research site and read the "Assent Form". This form asks them to talk to their parents about the research and ask questions, etc. Once the interview is scheduled, I try to speak with a parent/legal guardian. This part only takes a couple minutes and aimed at gathering verbal parental consent. If parent/guardian is not available, I reschedule the interview and try to get an email permission from the parent. The procedure with the IRB was pretty tedious. If you have specific questions, please email me off-list. Cheers. ~andras On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 10:07 AM, kattie hogan <hogankattie@yahoo.com>wrote ( mailto:hogankattie@yahoo.com ):

I am currently a doctorate student and my interest is online adolescent identity performances. My IRB is currently unsure about the types of consent I should obtain from these young people and whether parental consent must be obtained and how I would go about collecting those signatures. I would like to work with 14-17 year olds from different geographic areas, so face to face interviews would be a challenge. Any advice? Thank you in advance

--- Andras Lukacs Doctoral Candidate Department of Sociology Loyola University Chicago alukacs@luc.edu