ACCAN Informed Consent Project (21 August 2009)

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6.4. Additional research

Further research is required on consent issues and barriers to accessing redress mechanisms for some specific consumer categories. In particular, information on consent issues for people with cognitive impairment, communications impairment, hearing impairment and visual impairment is not readily available. Also, data collected by casework organisations and regulators does not always include data on vulnerable consumers (or data is not available in sufficient detail).

Further research is also required in order to evaluate the effectiveness of potential methods to obtain informed consent. This research project found that a lack of informed consent is the largest category of consent complaint in the communications sector. This research project also found that there is an enormous diversity in industry practice regarding the type and amount of information provided to consumers. Further studies could examine ways to improve industry practices to obtain informed consent.

One research option that is worth considering is to develop a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of consent. A method that has been considered elsewhere is testing or spot-checking the consumer’s understanding (post consent). In one study a call centre called back (medical) study participants with standard questions about what they had just agreed to.[40]

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[40] Study Into Informed Consent For Clinical Trials, Medical News Today, 14 January 2008, <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/93839.php>.

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