Tien distributes consent forms to the students in her classes so that they can formally concur or decline the use of their class assignments in her work. The forms are distributed in class but she doesn't look at them until after the final grades are in. When she makes her selections from among the assignments, she once again asks the students for permission and uses a form tailored specifically to the student's contribution. Williams is conducting research on understanding the combined effects of stress, diet and exercise on female athletes' reproductive systems. Her research involves participation by members of women's varsity and club teams to provide detailed inventories of the stress, diet and exercise they experience in their lives.
Some subjects also provide daily urine specimens and undergo physicals with the team physicians.
Williams worked through the team coaches to find a pool of subjects and had each of the volunteers fill out consent forms. Volunteers who participated in a subsequent monthlong physiological data-gathering phase completed additional consent forms. Control group subjects were recruited through ads and from a human sexuality class taught by Patricia Koch, associate professor of biobehavioral health. Coding was used to assure complete confidentiality for all participants. Most people are comfortable with telling women athletes who experience menstrual abnormalities simply to eat more and exercise less but our research indicates that there also are psychological and behavioral issues that need to be addressed in helping women athletes to prevent reproductive problems.