Research and Legal Perspectives on the Implications of the Family Privacy Protection Act for Research and Evaluation Involving Minors

Abstract

This paper reviews the Family Privacy Protection Act of 1995 (FPPA) and its potential impact on research and evaluation involving minors. First it discusses the issues surrounding the FPPA as debated in the United States House of Representatives. The FPPA requires written, or “active,” consent from the parent/guardian for survey research involving minors, rather than “passive” consent, which researchers have presumed when parents fail to return forms “opting” their children out of studies. The paper then presents per-presentation in which researchers relied upon passive consent, and discusses how that case might have been different had the FPPA been in effect.