Draw the remote-study map

List the sponsor, research site, telehealth platform, eConsent provider, home-health company, laboratory, courier, device vendor, app, and support desk. Verify each vendor through the research site. Ask which company receives which information.

Record the location and time zone of the investigator responsible for you. Confirm which visits remain in person and what triggers an unscheduled clinic visit.

Test the electronic consent process

Confirm how identity is verified, how you pause and resume, how you navigate backward, how questions reach a person, and how you download a complete signed copy. Conduct the discussion in a private place when possible.

Federal eConsent guidance (opens in a new tab) states that participants need an opportunity to consider participation and ask questions before signing and throughout involvement.

Inventory devices, apps, and permissions

Record whether the study provides a device or uses your own. Check operating-system requirements, data-plan needs, charging, pairing, notifications, accessibility, software updates, return packaging, replacement, and responsibility for loss or damage.

Review permissions before installation. Ask whether the app collects location, motion, contacts, microphone, camera, nearby-device, or background data. Ask what collection continues between scheduled tasks and how to stop it after withdrawal.

Verify home visitors and deliveries

Ask for the company, visitor name, identification method, appointment window, procedures, supervision, infection precautions, specimen handling, emergency supplies, and complaint contact. Confirm the visit through the study site before admitting an unexpected person.

For deliveries, ask about temperature control, signature, storage, children and pets, damaged packages, missed deliveries, and return shipping. Do not use an investigational product from a damaged or unverified shipment; contact the study team.

Plan home sample collection

Ask for the collection window, preparation, labeling, storage, packaging, pickup deadline, weekend or holiday plan, and what happens after a missed or unusable sample. Confirm whether supplies contain sharps or biohazard materials and how they are discarded.

Ask who to call for fainting, bleeding, device injury, or another problem. Home collection should include a safety response, not only shipping instructions.

Write the technical-failure plan

Ask how to document app downtime, lost connectivity, incorrect device time, daylight-saving changes, dead batteries, broken sensors, missing notifications, and shipping delays. Save screenshots or support numbers only when the study permits.

Confirm whether paper, phone, or delayed entry is allowed. Do not invent or backfill measurements without instruction. Ask whether technical failure affects payment or eligibility and how disputes are reviewed.

Sources for this guide

Official guidance controls regulatory claims. Peer-reviewed research is identified when participant experience requires evidence beyond agency guidance. Links were checked September 5, 2026.

  1. HHS Office for Human Research Protections and FDA. Use of Electronic Informed Consent: Questions and Answers (opens in a new tab).
  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HIPAA Privacy Rule and Research (opens in a new tab).
  3. Office for Human Research Protections. Questions to Ask About Volunteering for a Research Study (opens in a new tab).
  4. National Institute on Aging. Clinical Research: Benefits, Risks, and Safety (opens in a new tab).