Scenario
You have collected your data, conducted your analysis, and now you want to publish your findings and your dataset. This is the point when you realize that you haven’t obtained consent
- From some of your participants
- For the type of analysis you decided to conduct in the end
- For using your data in teaching
- For printing a screenshot of a video recording in your publication
Consent has to be a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes GDPR 4(11) and has to be given in advance. If you can’t anonymize the data, you might be in trouble, legally.
Solution
Consent is a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes GDPR 4(11).
Don’t put informed consent off, get it out of the way before you start collecting data. Informed consent doesn’t have to be written, you can record the consent as audio or video if that makes things easier.