I don’t agree with the definition of “human research” you are using. For example, Cornell IRB defines it as 1) extracting data from humans OR 2) collecting private information. The email collects information from a human, therefore, by 1) it is human and subject to IRB review. My understanding of the intent of IRB is to govern any research actions that directly or indirectly interact with a human. Even simple surveys or scraping reddit needs IRB.
For the deception, you have to weigh the pros and cons. The harm isn’t very high but 1) it undermines public trust of research and 2) includes the participant in a study they did not consent for. The participant is not getting paid for their time and is in fact getting indirectly threatened/coerced with legal action.
The IRB board of course makes all these calls. But it’s not “obvious” that the research is ethical. For example, research can be unethical _with participant consent_ if participants are offered too much money, because people will do _very_ bad things for large sums of money, so it’s basically coercion. In this case, there is an implication of legal action if the participant does not participate and they may not have an option to withhold their participation.
Consider the alternative: “Hi, I am a researcher from Princeton. For your time answering these 4 questions, you will receive $50 and an opportunity to advance our understanding of ____.”
For the deception, you have to weigh the pros and cons. The harm isn’t very high but 1) it undermines public trust of research and 2) includes the participant in a study they did not consent for. The participant is not getting paid for their time and is in fact getting indirectly threatened/coerced with legal action.
The IRB board of course makes all these calls. But it’s not “obvious” that the research is ethical. For example, research can be unethical _with participant consent_ if participants are offered too much money, because people will do _very_ bad things for large sums of money, so it’s basically coercion. In this case, there is an implication of legal action if the participant does not participate and they may not have an option to withhold their participation.
Consider the alternative: “Hi, I am a researcher from Princeton. For your time answering these 4 questions, you will receive $50 and an opportunity to advance our understanding of ____.”
[1] https://researchservices.cornell.edu/resources/irb-faqs