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Debriefing
Debriefing is the process of giving participants further information about a study in which they participated at the conclusion of their participation. Debriefing continues the informational process that began at the participant recruitment or informed consent stage. If the true purpose of the study was revealed to participants at the informed consent stage, debriefing is fairly straightforward. Participants are reminded of the purposes of the study, given further information about expected results, and thanked for their participation. The debriefing session also provides an opportunity for participants to ask any questions they may have about the study. In some research situations, participants might be called on to discuss negative emotions or reveal sensitive information (e.g., studies on relationship violence or eating disorders). In such studies, the researcher may include in the debriefing information about ways in which participants might obtain help in dealing with these issues, such as a referral to a campus mental health center. A debriefing script should be included in research proposals submitted to an institutional review board.
If a study includes deception, debriefing is more complex. In such instances, a researcher has concluded that informing participants of the nature of the study at the stage of obtaining consent would interfere with the collection of valid and generalizable data. In such instances, the researcher may give participants incomplete or misleading information about the nature of the study at the recruitment and consent stages. Other examples of deception in social science research include deceptive instructions, false feedback, or the use of confederates (members of the research team who misrepresent their identities as part of the study procedure).
In a deception study, the debriefing session is the time when a complete explanation of the study is given and the deception is revealed. Participants should be informed of the deception that took place and of the true purpose of the research. The reasons the researcher believed that deception was necessary for the research should also be explained to participants. As in a nondeception study, participants should be thanked for their participation and provided with an opportunity to ask questions of the researcher. Participants should also be reminded of their right to withdraw from the study at any time. This reminder may take a number of forms, ranging from a statement in the debriefing script indicating participants’ ability to withdraw, to a second informed consent form for participants to sign after being debriefed.
The Debriefing Process
David Holmes has argued that debriefing should include processes of dehoaxing (if necessary) and desensitizing. Dehoaxing involves informing participants about any deception that was used in the study and explaining the researcher's rationale for the use of deception. Desensitizing involves discussing and attempting to diminish any negative feelings (such as stress or anxiety) that may have arisen as a result of the research process.
Negative feelings may result from the research process for a number of reasons. The purpose of the research may have been to study these feelings, and thus researchers may have deliberately instigated them in participants. For example, researchers interested in the effects of mood on test performance might ask participants to read an upsetting passage before completing a test. Negative feelings may also arise as a consequence of engaging in the behavior that researchers were interested in studying. For example, researchers interested in conformity and compliance to authority may create situations in which participants are expected to engage in behavior with which they are uncomfortable (such as administering supposed electric shocks to a confederate). In such a situation, a researcher might address possible negative feelings by stating that the participant's behavior was not unusual or extreme (by, for example, stating that most other participants have acted the same way). Another approach is to emphasize that the behavior was due to situational factors rather than personal characteristics. Desensitizing may encourage participants to make an external (situational) rather than an internal (personal) attribution for their behavior. Participants may feel angry, foolish, or embarrassed about having been deceived by the researcher. One desensitizing technique applicable to such situations is to point out that negative feelings are a natural and expected outcome of the study situation.
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