Jane, I just stepped down after ~10 years as the chair of the IRB at the University of Bridgeport. We had this specific issue come up a few years ago. A study that among other aspects asked students to fill out an anonymous questionnaire and in lieu of that students could write an essay during that class period. This was rejected by the IRB as coercive. We were told by the PI that it is common for psychology programs to require students to participate in research. There was unanimous agreement that this was coercive to require participation (how could it be other than coercive participate or don't graduate). We likewise discussed the idea of extra credit and concluded that this too is a form of coercion. I highly recommend the book "My Freshman Year" by Rebecca Nathan (a pseudonym for the anthropologist Cathy Small). Dr. Small realized after 20 years in higher education that she didn't understand her students and therefore as an anthropologist decided to study them by becoming a freshman, living in a freshman dorm and taking a full load of 100 level classes at her own university.(some question the ethics of HER study) She noted, in the past a prof would suggest a paper and students would read it and be interested in talking about it. One of the things she discovered was that today if there is no grade consequence students will rarely do more than the minimum, in any but the subjects they really think are important and love. Thus, extra credit could be more coercive than financial incentives. Stephen Stephen M. Perle, D.C., M.S. Associate Editor, Chiropractic & Manual Therapies Professor of Clinical Sciences University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT 06604 USA www.bridgeport.edu/~perle Chiropractic & Manual Therapies chiromt.com _____________________________________________ “True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain and conflicting information.” - Winston Churchill