Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
Published on: May 3, 2016
Reporting participants in research studies to Child Protective Services: limited risk to attrition
Elizabeth Dawes Knight1, Jamie B Smith, Howard Dubowitz
1University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Injury Prevention Research Center, USA.
Abstract:
This study examines the impact of Child Protective Services (CPS) reports made by research study staff on participant retention and discusses human subjects protocols that may minimize either the need to make such reports or the negative impact of reporting on participants and on participant retention. Among 1, 354 primary caregiver-child pairs in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) studies, a total of 15 were reported to CPS by study staff. Within this group, rates of study-generated reports and study participation subsequent to having been reported by researchers were examined. There was an overall retention rate of 93% across a minimum of three interview waves in this sample. Reporting research participants to CPS may have little impact on attrition.
Related Concept Videos
Longitudinal Research
Ethics in Research
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Group Design
Naturalistic Observations
Censoring Survival Data
