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Research Ethics & Consent

Last updated: 15 October 2026

Istibana is built to support ethical, IRB-ready survey research. This page describes the tooling available to researchers and the standards we expect from studies run on the platform.

Informed consent

Research-mode surveys can show a mandatory informed-consent screen before the first question: your own consent text, a required "I agree" checkbox, and a clear option to decline. Nothing is recorded for respondents who decline. For those who consent, the platform logs a consent timestamp with each response and includes consent status in every export — the audit trail an ethics committee expects.

Anonymity & data minimization

Anonymized collection can be enabled per survey: no IP hash, browser fingerprint, or account identifier is stored with responses. Respondents remain unidentifiable to both the researcher and the platform. Surveys that do not need identifying data should not collect it — we default to collecting the minimum.

Transparent, reproducible analysis

Statistical results (t-tests, ANOVA, chi-square, correlations, Cronbach's α) are computed with documented, cross-validated methods and reported with effect sizes, assumption checks, and achieved power — so findings can be reported honestly, including when a sample is too small to support a conclusion.

Respondent rights

Respondents to research surveys on the platform can expect that:

  • Participation is always voluntary; consent screens include a decline option.
  • Respondents may stop at any point before submitting; partial answers are not stored as completed responses.
  • Data collected belongs to the study: survey owners control retention and deletion.

Your responsibilities as a researcher

You remain responsible for obtaining ethics approval where required, for the accuracy of your consent language, and for handling exported data according to your institution's policies and applicable law. The platform provides the tooling; the ethical conduct of the study is yours.

Contact

Questions about research use? Contact support@istibana.app.