Providing options through tiered consent respects participants’ preferences without significantly impeding research. Those who were randomized to tiered consent were less likely to change their consent post-debrief, which suggests that offering options maximizes participant autonomy by allowing participants to make decisions consistent with their preferences. The primary purpose of some large scale genomic studies (e.g., 1000 Genomes Project) is to create a community resource. For those studies, where unrestricted data sharing is an essential component of the research, traditional consent may be most appropriate. However, in studies where data sharing is desired but not required, tiered consent can provide a mechanism to respect individuals’ preferences without imposing an excessive burden on researchers. Participants in this study were generally accepting of broad but controlled data sharing; other groups may be less willing to share their data. Respecting the preferences of individuals within these groups will go a long way towards securing the public’s trust and will maximize the diversity of participation in genomic research.
