If disclosure of a subject's involvement in a specific research study can be potentially harmful to the subject, and the consent form is the only record linking the subject to the research, which of the following would be most helpful:

A. Code the subjects' responses.
B. Have the subject sign the consent form under an assumed name.
C. Obtain a Certificate of Confidentiality.
D. Obtain a waiver of documentation of informed consent.

D. Obtain a waiver of documentation of informed consent.

Explanation:

The most helpful approach to protect the subject identity is to obtain a waiver of documentation of informed consent, with this, the researcher does not need the subjects signature and name of the subject on the consent form hence the subjects identity is protected, or the consent form can be entirely waived, or the documentation of the subjects consent form can also be waived. It is a provision by the IRB.

the 4th option is the answer

as university of miami psychologists debra lieberman and adam smith pointed out in a recent article in the journal current directions in psychological science, humans have social and psychological mechanisms to deter incest. with very few exceptions, marriages between brothers and sisters and between parents and their children are verboten in every human culture. the primary psychological anti-incest mechanism is the yuck response. even the idea of sex with their mom or dad, bro or sis is upsetting to most people. the psychologist jonathan haidt has found that nearly everyone is repelled by the prospect of brother-sister sex, even in hypothetical situations in which there is no chance of pregnancy).

the biological cost of incest

this raises an interesting question: just what’s so bad about incest? sure, having sex with your dad or your sister seems gross — but why? some anthropologists have argued that incest taboos are learned social conventions. this explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me as it does not explain the widespread existence of anti-incest mechanisms in creatures ranging from cockroaches to chimpanzees. second, the incest taboo is about as close to a universal law as human moral rules get.

why should mechanisms to avoid incest be so widespread both in nature and across human societies? the answer is simple. the problem with having sex close with relatives is that there is an astonishingly high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.