Okay, there seems to be some confusion on the post I made regarding the TLC survey. Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I could have been. Here is how I've explained it to several of you who have privately contacted me: Since TLC requires that members be LLL Leaders, then by definition they are connected to LLLI (even if not officially). This is certainly as true as when I was just reprimanded for using colloquial phrases (e.g. WarmLLLy) indicating my LLL affiliation. [Apparently some of the Lactnet lurkers feel as though they must report everything I do to our advisors.] IF a researcher reports "that these data were collected through a member-only email list with international membership of ###" and does not state TLC, LLLI, or LEADER in her report, THEN no approval needs to be sought. TLC list members are free to do whatever their list-owners permit--provided they don't then publish it elsewhere with that specifically spelled-out affiliation. If they wish to conduct a survey of Leaders (either through TLC or other channels), then they need to pursue Research Review Committee approval from LLLI. This is the similar to when research has been conducted at a hospital that does not want to be directly identified or indirectly identifiable (say there's only one hospital in a town and the researcher says "a community hospital in Corvallis"). In this example, the correct way to report this is to say "a community hospital in a micro-politan Pacific Northwest city." According to the National Center for Health Statistics' confidentiality statements, any populations under 100,000 (this may include lists in the future) deserves special protections for anonimity because any unique identifiers may indirectly lead curious minds to try to identify individuals in that population. I do apologize for the confusion. Please do feel free to contact me if this is not clear. Wishing you all happy spring! : )Chris Hafner-Eaton, PhD, MPH, CHES, IBCLC email: [log in to unmask] : ) : )HSR & Health Educational Consultant voice/fax: 541 753 7340 : ) : )LLLLLLLLLLLLL**CHANGE THE WORLD, NURTURE A CHILD!**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL : )