How do I convince the NSF that I really don't want to be part of a long term panel study?
April 29, 2011 3:55 PM Subscribe
I am a part of a joint National Science Foundation (NSF)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel study, and seemingly will be for the rest of my life. But I do not wish to be. How do I put my foot down and get out of it?
So, my reward for the Ph.D. was to be empaneled in the NSF-NIH Survey of Doctorate Recipients. I don't wish to be a part of this study, for several reasons, the most important of which is that I find the survey to be not only time-consuming but also extremely anxiety-inducing. The survey asks a great many detailed and personal questions about one's life and career. Frankly, I worry enough about my career as it is without this additional reflective pressure.
I have no intention of dealing with this commitment and its concomitant anxiety biannually for the next 50 years. And, yes, I say this as someone well-aware of good social science methods, the importance of representative samples, and the like. I sympathize with the methodological and logistical problems behind creating a good panel study, but at the end of the day, I really am viscerally palpably uncomfortable with the idea of being a part of this. So I want to stop.
But it's not easy to get the NSF to leave you alone. If you move, the NSF finds you. If you don't respond, they send you letters via registered mail. If you continue not to respond, they make harassing phone calls to your home. If you tell them that you're not interested, they eventually leave you alone for a couple of months (after several phone calls), then start again, only this time including a check as well. And that's what's most recently happened: I'm being hassled again by the NSF, this time with the same survey and a check for $30. But I don't want their money; I want them to stop bothering me. Already, I worry that if I ignore this survey, the phone calls will start coming again.
This raises a series of questions.
1) How do I get the NSF to stop contacting me once and for all? It seems as if either do not yet understand my request, or they simply do not care. When I last spoke with a representative on the phone, I was polite but insistent, not allowing for negotiation on their part. I made my position clear. Yet, they persist. What more can I say or do to make the regular contact stop?
2) My academic discipline is rather methodologically diverse, and is one in which I can have a long & successful career without ever receiving an NSF grant. Nevertheless, I wonder: if I do default out of this survey sample am I basically creating a situation in which I'd never have a chance at any sort of NSF funding? I might actually be okay with this if it's true, but I ought to know the consequences of what I'm doing.
3) The enclosed letter makes no mention of the $30 check any sort of payment for services rendered. Nevertheless, it seems to me that it would be unethical to accept the money if I don't fill out the survey. But must I mail back the check, or can I simply shred it?
So, my reward for the Ph.D. was to be empaneled in the NSF-NIH Survey of Doctorate Recipients. I don't wish to be a part of this study, for several reasons, the most important of which is that I find the survey to be not only time-consuming but also extremely anxiety-inducing. The survey asks a great many detailed and personal questions about one's life and career. Frankly, I worry enough about my career as it is without this additional reflective pressure.
I have no intention of dealing with this commitment and its concomitant anxiety biannually for the next 50 years. And, yes, I say this as someone well-aware of good social science methods, the importance of representative samples, and the like. I sympathize with the methodological and logistical problems behind creating a good panel study, but at the end of the day, I really am viscerally palpably uncomfortable with the idea of being a part of this. So I want to stop.
But it's not easy to get the NSF to leave you alone. If you move, the NSF finds you. If you don't respond, they send you letters via registered mail. If you continue not to respond, they make harassing phone calls to your home. If you tell them that you're not interested, they eventually leave you alone for a couple of months (after several phone calls), then start again, only this time including a check as well. And that's what's most recently happened: I'm being hassled again by the NSF, this time with the same survey and a check for $30. But I don't want their money; I want them to stop bothering me. Already, I worry that if I ignore this survey, the phone calls will start coming again.
This raises a series of questions.
1) How do I get the NSF to stop contacting me once and for all? It seems as if either do not yet understand my request, or they simply do not care. When I last spoke with a representative on the phone, I was polite but insistent, not allowing for negotiation on their part. I made my position clear. Yet, they persist. What more can I say or do to make the regular contact stop?
2) My academic discipline is rather methodologically diverse, and is one in which I can have a long & successful career without ever receiving an NSF grant. Nevertheless, I wonder: if I do default out of this survey sample am I basically creating a situation in which I'd never have a chance at any sort of NSF funding? I might actually be okay with this if it's true, but I ought to know the consequences of what I'm doing.
3) The enclosed letter makes no mention of the $30 check any sort of payment for services rendered. Nevertheless, it seems to me that it would be unethical to accept the money if I don't fill out the survey. But must I mail back the check, or can I simply shred it?
if I do default out of this survey sample am I basically creating a situation in which I'd never have a chance at any sort of NSF funding?
There is no way that NSF could get this kind of information if the claims about privacy are true. Also, the survey isn't even run by the NSF. privacy info. "Response is voluntary and failure to provide some or all of the requested information will not in any way adversely affect sample members." According to the website the response rate is 78%, so there are plenty of other people not responding.
posted by advil at 4:08 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
There is no way that NSF could get this kind of information if the claims about privacy are true. Also, the survey isn't even run by the NSF. privacy info. "Response is voluntary and failure to provide some or all of the requested information will not in any way adversely affect sample members." According to the website the response rate is 78%, so there are plenty of other people not responding.
posted by advil at 4:08 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
The mister, who is a scientist, says "You gave informed consent; you can withdraw it at any time. How you have a PhD and don't know this is beyond me."
posted by evoque at 4:14 PM on April 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by evoque at 4:14 PM on April 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
Have you told them you wish to withdraw from the study?
Is there a research ethics body you could escalate this to?
I sit on a university research ethics board, which I acknowledge is not the same thing, but for what it's worth failing to respect a participant's wish to withdraw or treating their data in a manner that is not confidential would be considered serious breaches that could jeopardize the study.
On preview, advil's link would seem to indicate the University of Chicago is involved. If there isn't a department of research ethics at the NIH or NSF, the university probably has one.
posted by AV at 4:16 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Is there a research ethics body you could escalate this to?
I sit on a university research ethics board, which I acknowledge is not the same thing, but for what it's worth failing to respect a participant's wish to withdraw or treating their data in a manner that is not confidential would be considered serious breaches that could jeopardize the study.
On preview, advil's link would seem to indicate the University of Chicago is involved. If there isn't a department of research ethics at the NIH or NSF, the university probably has one.
posted by AV at 4:16 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
"You gave informed consent; you can withdraw it at any time. How you have a PhD and don't know this is beyond me."
I have a PhD; I didn't know this until just now. (My PhD is in math. We don't need consent to do things to equations.)
posted by madcaptenor at 4:32 PM on April 29, 2011 [8 favorites]
I have a PhD; I didn't know this until just now. (My PhD is in math. We don't need consent to do things to equations.)
posted by madcaptenor at 4:32 PM on April 29, 2011 [8 favorites]
You are well within your rights to keep anything you receive, addressed to you, through the mail -- even if it is unsolicited. They are sending you merchandise (in this case, a check) in hopes that you will pay them with a completed survey. Cash the check without another thought. From the US Postal Inspection Service: Receipt of Unsolicited Merchandise.
posted by Houstonian at 4:33 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Houstonian at 4:33 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Forget evoque's mister. You gave informed consent. From your description you have withdrawn your consent - the study has simply ignored it.
This is an ethics violation on their part - NORC at the U of Chicago runs the survey. I'm sure someone listed as a contact on this page will take action if you make it clear you will escalate the issue to the appropriate Human Subjects IRB at the univeristy.
Good luck!
posted by m@f at 5:05 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is an ethics violation on their part - NORC at the U of Chicago runs the survey. I'm sure someone listed as a contact on this page will take action if you make it clear you will escalate the issue to the appropriate Human Subjects IRB at the univeristy.
Good luck!
posted by m@f at 5:05 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
To be fair, you should know you can withdraw from the study because it was in the consent you signed, and everyone should read things they sign. However, I think you do know you can withdraw, but you aren't getting the correct response. The answer? Call up the PI involved in the study, tell them you have withdrawn from the study, you do not wish to participate, that you made this clear, and yet you are still receiving surveys and phone calls. If he/she waffles at all in you participating, then you threaten going to the IRB or research ethics board about it. It will stop. Don't threaten the monkey calling you, they might not know how big a deal it is.
posted by katers890 at 5:42 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by katers890 at 5:42 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
I think it would also be useful to send this kind of withdrawal of consent in writing, vs. just telling that one person on the phone. Keep a copy for yourself, and if you continue to then receive requests for participation, escalate up the chain of command to the reviewing body for the experimenters.
posted by bizzyb at 7:14 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by bizzyb at 7:14 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
NORC looks like it has its own internal IRB, and doesn't use chicago's. I feel a little bit weird singling out the person in charge directly here, but you can easily find them on the list of people.
posted by advil at 8:04 PM on April 29, 2011
posted by advil at 8:04 PM on April 29, 2011
I have a PhD; I didn't know this until just now. (My PhD is in math. We don't need consent to do things to equations.)
Well, lots of us either got a briefing on how to deal with human subjects for our studies even if we didn't use them ourselves or, alternately, supplemented our income with payments from being an experimental subject, and that's always part of the consent form. As everyone has pointed out, universities have review boards to oversee human-subject experiments, and contacting them will pretty much put an end to that experiment contacting you, since the review board has no stake in the experiments itself and only wants to shield the university from lawsuits from abuse.
Anyway, you can always mark stuff "return to sender." I'd also put the withdrawal decision in writing.
I'd also consult a counselor about your anxiety, if you feel it's a problem. Managing a research career when you have anxiety problems isn't a formula for success. Those surveys are probably the least stressful thing you'll have to deal with in life, and AskMeFi has enough post-PhD horror stories that you likely want to consider your career path carefully.
posted by deanc at 8:52 PM on April 29, 2011
Well, lots of us either got a briefing on how to deal with human subjects for our studies even if we didn't use them ourselves or, alternately, supplemented our income with payments from being an experimental subject, and that's always part of the consent form. As everyone has pointed out, universities have review boards to oversee human-subject experiments, and contacting them will pretty much put an end to that experiment contacting you, since the review board has no stake in the experiments itself and only wants to shield the university from lawsuits from abuse.
Anyway, you can always mark stuff "return to sender." I'd also put the withdrawal decision in writing.
I'd also consult a counselor about your anxiety, if you feel it's a problem. Managing a research career when you have anxiety problems isn't a formula for success. Those surveys are probably the least stressful thing you'll have to deal with in life, and AskMeFi has enough post-PhD horror stories that you likely want to consider your career path carefully.
posted by deanc at 8:52 PM on April 29, 2011
You can absolutely withdraw. The study will put you into the "subject withdrew" column and its as if you were never a participant. No biggie.
They *ought* to exclude ALL data collected from people who withdrew. However, given the nature of the study, all data on subjects who *did* withdraw vs. subjects who *didn't* (controlling for some things) could be VERY VERY interesting.
You seem to be worried more about being reminded about what you once wanted/thought your career to/could be. If you're not in academia anymore, just send them a false forwarding address.
If you're still in academia and your details are findoutable, check up on who's funding the study. They needed to have given you a form that you signed and a form for yourself. This form should have the funding agency and study identification number. Call up agency, tell them that this study number is violating ethics by keeping on bugging you even after you told them that you want to withdraw from the study.
posted by porpoise at 8:55 PM on April 29, 2011
They *ought* to exclude ALL data collected from people who withdrew. However, given the nature of the study, all data on subjects who *did* withdraw vs. subjects who *didn't* (controlling for some things) could be VERY VERY interesting.
You seem to be worried more about being reminded about what you once wanted/thought your career to/could be. If you're not in academia anymore, just send them a false forwarding address.
If you're still in academia and your details are findoutable, check up on who's funding the study. They needed to have given you a form that you signed and a form for yourself. This form should have the funding agency and study identification number. Call up agency, tell them that this study number is violating ethics by keeping on bugging you even after you told them that you want to withdraw from the study.
posted by porpoise at 8:55 PM on April 29, 2011
And if you want to be helpful *at all* to this study, given them a reason or two why you want to withdraw.
- not part of this study
posted by porpoise at 9:01 PM on April 29, 2011
- not part of this study
posted by porpoise at 9:01 PM on April 29, 2011
This is a clear cut ethics violation on their part. The NSF is legislatively required to conduct the survey, but you have a constitutional right to privacy. The buzz-words you will want to be sure to mention are "I am withdrawing consent for my participation in this survey" and "This survey is causing me anxiety and undue harm" A call to the NORC IRB Administrator toll-free at 866-309-0542 should do it, if not the NSF Project Officer, Lynn M. Milan [email at lmilan@nsf.gov] ought to be very interested in resolving the situation. If contacting both of these people does not stop the materiel, than the project has gone well past shady and easily into owing you a big check that a lawyer will help you to receive.
posted by Blasdelb at 9:41 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Blasdelb at 9:41 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well, lots of us either got a briefing on how to deal with human subjects for our studies even if we didn't use them ourselves
just to clarify, I am not the original poster.
posted by madcaptenor at 8:08 AM on April 30, 2011
just to clarify, I am not the original poster.
posted by madcaptenor at 8:08 AM on April 30, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
2. ?????
3. Don't Profit! It would be unethical in my mind, too. I would mail it back.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:05 PM on April 29, 2011