A release is a mechanism that allows you to use another person's image or voice in specified ways. It usually consists of form that subjects sign giving a researcher permission to use their voices and/or images. In some circumstances, for example, when subjects are not literate, it may consist of an audio recording of the subject's permission.

Some projects require photographs or videos to accomplish the research objective for example, Reflections of Emotion in Faces of Differing Ethnic Backgrounds. However, most research projects do not need images of subjects. Images are identifiers and have the potential to compromise subject confidentiality, so think very carefully about whether to film or photograph your subjects.

1. It is generally not necessary to obtain written releases to take photographs in public places, such as a town square or park. However, there are exceptions. For example, photographing people as they leave a needle-exchange service would create images that reveal private information even though the setting, a street or square, is public.

2. If you are recording an interview, solely for the purposes of making an accurate transcript and will not keep the recording.

3. It is not necessary to obtain releases to share identifiable images and recordings with members of your research team, your advisor, or staff from the Duke program that funded your research. If your program or class requires that you participate in a poster session, you do not need a release. Even though you do not need releases to use your material in these ways, your consent process must state who will see the material and in what format. You must be vigilant about identifiable images. For example, if Duke News wants to write an article about your research based on your poster presentation and you do not have permission for identifiable images to be posted on the Internet, you may not provide the images to the Duke reporter.

Releases should be obtained from research subjects for any of the following uses of identifiable images and recordings, except as described in the previous section: "When is it not necessary to obtain a release?"

1. Showing/playing them off campus, such as at another university in North Carolina or at a conference.

2. Posting them on the Internet.

3. Giving them to an organization that collaborated in your research, such as a non-governmental organization, for public dissemination.

4. Using photographs in an article submitted for publication.

Images and recordings may be archived for research and educational purposes. If you hope to create images or make recordings that may have long term value and that may be of sufficient interest to be archived in a library other collection, please consult with your advisor. If needed, your advisor may consult with Duke's Special Collections Library staff or staff at the Center for Documentary Studies about technical issues, including the type of equipment that you need to use.

There are two consent forms that need to be completed if material will be housed in a collection or archive. The first is to be completed by the subjects giving the researcher rights to the material. The second, to be completed by the researcher, releases the material to the collection or archive.

Senior Honors Theses

Your thesis will be submitted to the Duke Library and be available to anyone with access to the library. If the thesis contains identifiable images, you will need to receive permission from your subjects to include their images in a public document.

1. A description of the material to be released

2. A list of ways you want to use the material

3. A statement that signing the release is voluntary

4. The subjects agreement: written, recorded, or oral, depending upon the circumstances

5. Parental permission if the subjects are minors

6. Child assent if the subjects are minors

Generally, separate release documents are useful if there are a variety of ways you might use the images you have taken and if you are willing to give subjects the option to choose which of those ways are acceptable to them. In this case, the release is provided after you have completed your initial interaction with your subject during which you made images and recordings.

Generally, the components of a release are included in the consent form if you do not want to offer options about how images are used, in other words, when images or recordings are integral to you study. If that is the case, fully informed subjects can opt-in or opt-out of the study as a whole.

When the release will be a separate document, you must talk about the process in the consent form. For example:

"I hope to produce a collection of essays about what I have learned, accompanied by recordings and photographs. Also, I would like to be able to convert my writing and photography to electronic format so that I can share it will people who are interested in this topic, such as at a conferences. I may also give the essays with the recordings and photographs to a Duke University archive for public access. As you can see, there are several ways I could use the records produced by our interview. At the end of the interview, I will give you a form called a release and you can indicate how I can use the recording of your voice and any photographs I took of you."

If children will be filmed outside their family group, unless the image making will be done in a public space and the children will not be identified, permission from a parent or legal guardian must be secured. (In some countries, school principals act in loco parentis and make decisions on behalf of the parents.)

Parental Permission Language for Release Forms

The following text for a release form is written at seventh grade reading level. For some populations you will need to reduce the reading level and for others it might be appropriate to write the release in a more professional style. The important thing is to think through all the possible uses of the material for which you need permission and include them in your text.

I permit (researcher name) to use photographs of my child (name of child) taken as part of (title or description of study) for my research project and to copy the photograph for use in the following ways.

(Please check the boxes to let us know which uses are OK.)

__Put up an exhibit of the photos at a Duke University gallery

__Place the photos in the archives at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies for future use. Future uses could be putting the photographs in another exhibit or printing them in a book.

__Put the photos on-line for other research and teaching purposes. This means that people all over the world could see and copy the photos.

May we use you child's name with the photos? Yes __ or No __

Even if parents have provided permission for children to be photographed or filmed, children need to assent. (This is only the case if you are making images of children outside the family group, for example, if they are members of a young theater group that is educating other children about HIV/AIDS.)

If the children in your study will be asked to sign assent forms because they are old enough and mature enough to do so, you can incorporate the elements of release into the assent form.

If you will use an oral assent process for the children in your study, your request to film or photograph them may also be oral.