How to Create a Consent Form

What is a Consent Form?

The purpose of a consent form is to gain the permission of, or make an agreement with, a respondent. They will also serve as evidence of this permission or agreement. They will often include the below points:

• Project aims and goals
• Purpose of the project
• Outline of questions
• If/ how confidentiality will be protected
• How respondents withdraw from the project
• How data will be used
• If data will be published
• Signatures and dates of signing
• Any other details relevant to gaining informed consent

Why use a Consent Form?

You can use a consent form to inform respondents as to how you’ll store or use their data once it’s collected, and require them to agree or disagree to your terms. They are commonly used where sensitive or private information is being communicated and exist to protect the rights of all concerned parties.

How to Create a Consent Form

Tip: The consent form should be free from technical language, and completely understandable by the respondent.

You’ll build a Consent Form using the same page and Logic tools as qualification questions — see About Logic, Default Logic and Page Logic for background. After presenting all relevant information to the respondent, you will ask them to accept or decline the terms you’ve outlined. They will be granted access to the rest of your form if they give consent, or will be sent to a Thank You page or disqualification page if not.

1. Create a form

2. Add a page at the start of your form to be the consent page. A new form starts with a single “Page 1” — either build your consent content there, or click the ⋮ icon next to a page title, choose Add page → Question Page, then use ⋮ → Reorder pages to drag it to the front

   Note: Ensure this page is placed before any questions

3. Add a second exit page (Thank You page) for those who do not give consent: click the ⋮ icon next to any page title (or the + Page shortcut under “Exit pages” in the Form tab), choose Add page → Exit Page

   Note: New exit pages are added after your existing ones, so respondents who give consent won’t see this second page unless Logic sends them to it (if you don’t intend on customizing either Exit page, you’ll only need one)

4. Click + Question on the consent page and add a Paragraph (listed under “Content Items”) to present your project information to respondents — a Heading / Greeting works too if you just need a title

5. Click + Question again and choose Multi-Choice (Single Select) (under “Standard Questions”), and make this your consent request, e.g. “I Agree” / “I Do Not Agree”

6. Expand the question (Show more settings → Logic) and, next to your negative/disqualifying answer, choose the second exit page from the drop-down (it defaults to “Next Page (Default)”)

7. You can also set the “I Agree” answer’s Logic to send respondents straight to your questions, but it’s not essential — by default, respondents who don’t pick a disqualifying answer are simply carried forward when they click Next Page

Note

Logic set on a page (“Default end of page skip to”) or on an individual answer (via a question’s Logic panel) only takes effect once a respondent clicks Next Page (or Finish) — nothing happens the instant they select an answer.

Tip

Shout also has a purpose-built Consent question type (+ Question → Special → Consent) for recording GDPR-style consent — e.g. a marketing opt-in — directly against a contact’s record, rather than gating the rest of the form. See How to Use the Consent Question Type. Use the Multi-Choice approach above when you need to disqualify respondents or redirect them based on their answer.

Removing Disqualified Respondents from your Results

You can customize your report to only include qualified respondents, by using the Filter & Compare feature in Results.

To do this:

1. Go to Results
2. Open Filter & Compare in the sidebar, then click Add Filter
3. Set “Filter by” to Form Question Answers
4. Choose your qualifying question from the Question drop-down
5. Choose the qualifying answer for results concerning the qualified respondents OR choose the disqualifying answer for results concerning the disqualified respondents, then click Save

Note: This Report feature will require you to have a paid account.