Informed Consent


Woman signing an informed consent form for an oral history

Obtaining Informed consent from your narrator is an essential step in preparing for your oral history interview.  

Narrators are able to provide informed consent when they understand the purpose and scope of the oral history you are working on together.  This means understanding their role in the process, their ability to make decisions about what they want to share, and their right to stop the interview process at any time.  Obtaining informed consent means gaining the narrators' consent to record and share their life story.  

To provide informed consent narrators need to understand the purpose and potential uses of their interview.  In this case, their interview will be turned in to the instructor and discussed in class with other students.  

Note:  This module covers how to conduct oral histories for a class assignment.  It does not cover how to conduct oral histories that would be preserved or made accessible to the public, which would require additional planning, permissions, and funding.


Photo by Leah Sylva