Online Safety Conversations for Research Participation

# Online Safety Conversations to Have With Your Minor When They Participate in Research

When your child participates in online research studies, they're sharing personal information with companies and researchers. Here's how to prepare them for this responsibility.

Understanding What Your Child Is Sharing

[Research companies collect personal information from children such as name, address, email address, and information combined with those identifiers such as hobbies](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule-six-step-compliance-plan-your-business). Before your child participates, review exactly what data will be collected. [Many children might not understand or appreciate the importance of maintaining data privacy while sharing personal and sensitive information online, placing greater responsibility on parents to ensure they are aware of potential risks and limits to data confidentiality](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9120975/).

The Legal Protections in Place

[The COPPA Rule requires certain websites and other online services to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information from children under 13](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-finalizes-changes-childrens-privacy-rule-limiting-companies-ability-monetize-kids-data). [Operators are prohibited from conditioning a child's participation in an online activity on the child providing more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act). This means research companies cannot demand excessive data just to participate.

Additionally, [parents have the right to require operators to delete personal information collected from their children](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-finalizes-changes-childrens-privacy-rule-limiting-companies-ability-monetize-kids-data). You can request data deletion at any time.

How to Talk With Your Child About Research Participation

[A good strategy is to talk to your kids directly about online privacy and security — from a young age through high school](https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2023/08/nist-researchers-explore-best-practices-talking-kids-about-online-privacy). Rather than focusing only on what not to do, [parents often see most online activities as very risky and tell their kids what not to do, instead of what to do—it may be more helpful to talk about behavior options and the potential consequences of each](https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2023/08/nist-researchers-explore-best-practices-talking-kids-about-online-privacy).