Research
Participation
Instructions
There are three parts to these instructions.
-
The first part provides you with some important general
information.
-
The second part
explains how to use
the web based
subject pool sign up system.
-
The final part explains what to expect, and what to do,
when you go to
the
study to participate.
The URL for the website is at the end of these
instructions.
PLEASE DON'T GO TO THE WEBSITE UNTIL YOU HAVE READ AND
UNDERSTOOD ALL
OF THE INSTRUCTIONS.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Students in General
Psychology (PSY 011) are REQUIRED to earn 3 research participation credits. What
percentage of your course grade or what number of course
points your research participation credits count for is a
separate issue, and is up to your instructor. Instructors
in other courses may also grant extra credit for
research participation, but that is up to them.
.
- Your research participation is managed through our subject
pool website. Please do not try to use the subject pool website until
you have read all of these instructions.
.
- You
will create an account on the subject pool website. (Some professors
may
create accounts for all students in their class. If so, they will tell
you. However, you should assume you have to create the account yourself
unless told otherwise). If
you belong to more than one class in which the instructor is having you
earn research participation credits, then you will need to "re-assign"
any credit you earn to the appropriate class by using the appropriate
links on the subject pool website.
.
- You
will sign
up for appointments for research studies on the subject pool website.
Students often want to meet their research participation requirement as
early as possible in the semester. They may wish to do so because their
professor has established a cut-off date for doing the research
participation, or just because they don't want to be rushed at the end
of the semester. For those reasons, it is good to look for studies to
sign up for as early in the semester as you can. However, if you can't
find studies to sign up for there are two things you should be aware
of. First, the students in the Experimental Psychology classes are
required to run research projects that you will be able to sign up for,
but they are not able to run those projects until later in the
semester. Also, although we would much rather you actually participate
in studies, if you really need to, your professor does allow you to
earn the research participation credits through an alternate means.
Therefore, if you are having trouble finding projects to sign up for as
early as you would like, don't panic. Tell your professor about the
problem, and ask them if they think there is still enough time to
sign up for studies, or whether you need to do the alternative.
However, please do not email the subject pool administrator to ask if
there will be more studies posted. Unless it is extremely late in the
semester, the answer is almost always yes. And even if it isn't, you
can still look into doing the alternative.
.
- The subject pool website will give you a
5 digit ID code that identifies you anonymously to the researcher. YOU
MUST BRING THE CODE TO THE STUDY. This 5 digit code is separate from
any subject number you may be given during the study.
.
- You
must keep the information about the name of the research study, and the
date, time, and place of the study, so that you can keep your
appointment.
.
- It is your responsibility to either
keep your appointment or to go back to the subject pool website and
cancel it
before the deadline to cancel expires.
.
- You must
know where the room for the research study is located (find it ahead of
time if necessary), and arrive on time. If you are
late, you will probably not be able to participate.
.
- After
you have participated, the researcher will grant your research
participation credit on the subject pool website. Your
instructor may
require you to do something more, such as turn in a short report,
before granting you whatever course points or
percentage of your course grade are given for your
research participation. Research participation
credit is linked to, but not the same as, course points.
.
- If you fail to participate
without cancelling, you will be given a "no show" on the subject pool
website
instead of research participation credits. Whether and how "no shows"
are penalized is up to your instructor.
.
- You may go
to your account on the subject pool website at any time to track your research
participation credits. You can also double check the
appointment information there. Instructors also go to the subject pool
website
to check on the research participation of their students. You
must check on the subject pool website to make sure you received your
credit,
and, if necessary, that it has been assigned to the correct class.
The subject pool system will not show
anything
about your course points or course grade. Any information
about that will have to come from your instructor. Your instructor may
post such information on D2L, but that is up to them.
.
- Next
you should read the more specific instructions below (or click on links
to the right of these instructions) for each step in the process before
you need to do that step. If you have any questions, you
should first make sure you have read and understood all the written
instructions provided for you, including those on the subject pool
website
itself, and the information below. If you still need help, your next
recourse is your instructor. Finally, any questions that your
instructor can't answer can be referred to research participation
administrator (as of Fall 2007, Dr. Ryan).
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THE WEB BASED SUBJECT POOL
SYSTEM:
- The first page you come to when you
go to the website will be the log in page. Please read each page you
come to carefully. On the login page, there will be a button in the
right side of the screen for new users to request an account. Once you
have
an account, you will use this page to log in.
.
- Click on the "Request Account" button. Your User ID must
be
the same as your kutztown email User ID. You will select the
course to which you need your participation credits to be applied as
part of creating your account. An initial password will then be emailed
to you. You should change the password the first time you log on to the
account. (You will be able to retreive a forgotten password by
following a link on the lower left of the login page)
.
- When you log in, you will see the following:
- A button to "View Available Studies"
- My schedule and credits
- My profile
- Credits overview
- Upcoming appointments
.
- Studies will become available from time to time, and sign
up slots will
be added from time to time. If you can't find a time to participate
right away, keep checking. If you are having too much trouble finding a
time, then tell your professor.
.
- When
you sign up for a study, you will be given an ID CODE
to identify you to the researcher without using your name. YOU
MUST GIVE THIS ID CODE TO THE RESEARCHER WHEN YOU PARTICIPATE.
You can find your ID CODE in your profile if you forget it. (You may
also be given a subject number in the study. But that subject number is
NOT your ID CODE)
.
- You will be sent
an email reminder the day before your appointment. You would probably
do well to also write down the time and place information to help you
remember to keep the appointment in case you don't check your email the
day before the appointment. You can also check any upcoming
appointments on the first page you come to when you log in.
.
- BEFORE YOU PARTICIPATE, THE
RESEARCHER WILL ASK FOR YOUR ID CODE. (If
the study has only one subject signed up in each time slot, the
researcher may not actually need the code, but you should always bring
it just in case.) After you
participate, the researcher will assign your credit to your course. You
can check to make sure you received credit by going to the "My schedule
and credits" link. The experimenter should apply your credit to your
course within a day or two, if not sooner. If you don't receive credit
after two days, then tell your professor.
.
- You can change your password and other information by going
to the "My
profile" link.
WHAT TO DO WHEN GOING
TO THE STUDY TO PARTICIPATE.
- Some projects may have restrictions. For example, for some
projects you
may not participate unless you are at least 18 years old. For some, you
may participate if you are under 18, but only if you provide written
permission from a parent or guardian. In other cases, the
project may be only about females, may require right handed people, or
there may be a vision requirement.
.
- There are usually many sessions of the same project. Once
you have
participated in one session you may not participate in another session
of the same project. The system will not allow you to participate in a
project that you have already participated in. In those rare cases in
which a project does allow you to participate more than once, there
will be an explicit statement to that effect in the information about
the project.
.
- It is very important
that you are considerate of the experimenter once you make an
appointment. Experimenters often go to a good deal of effort to be
prepared to run the subject through the procedure. You should only
cancel appointments for good reasons. Most importantly, if you can not
make the appointment you should go to the web site and cancel your sign
up. Some projects may require that you cancel at least 24 hours in
advance.
.
- If you arrive and find a
sign on the door that says the experiment is already in progress, then
there are two possibilities.
.
- First, if you did
not arrive on time, then the study may already have begun without you.
Many studies run groups of subjects all at once, and once the
study begins, no one else can be admitted. An experimenter can, at
his/her discretion, wait a few minutes for a late subject. However,
they are not required to do so. In some cases it may be to their
advantage to wait rather than lose a subject. In other cases they may
need to start right on time. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to
arrive on time if you do not want to risk losing your opportunity to
participate.
.
- Second, some studies run many
subjects, one at a time, at short intervals. There may be a subject
ahead of you, and the study may be running a little behind. This
sometimes happens, but the delay is usually not long. In such a case,
you should wait at least a few minutes. When the subject
ahead of you comes out, you can talk to the experimenter
about whether you still have time to participate, whether you can
afford to wait any longer (if there are still other subjects ahead of
you), or whether you need to reschedule. It is to the experimenter's
advantage for you to be willing to reschedule. But if the experimenter
is very far behind schedule and has seriously inconvenienced you, then
you are entitled to the credit without
participating. Both the subject and the experimenter should be
prepared to be reasonable. If you are have waited a few minutes, but
can not afford to wait longer, then let your professor know what
happened. Try to keep an accurate record of the time you arrived and
left, and always report what happened honestly and without exaggeration.
.
- Be sure you are
checking your Kutztown email regularly (or having your Kutztown email
account forward to the account you actually use). Experimenters seldom
need to cancel a session, but it could happen. If so, then the
experimenter will email you in advance. In the unlikely event that you
would show up for an appointment and the experimenter did not show up,
then you should tell your professor what happened, and she/he will
notify the subject pool administrator (Currently Dr. Ryan - rryan@kutztown.edu).
.
- When you go to your appointment, the
experimenter will first give you an informed consent sheet to read to
make the final decision about whether you wish to
participate. The experiments run within our department are almost
always projects that no one would mind participating in, and some are
even fun. Nevertheless, the decision is yours.
.
- At the start of the experiment, the experimenter will
give
you any
necessary instructions for participating. THE EXPERIMENTER
WILL NEED THE ID CODE YOU WERE GIVEN WHEN YOU SIGNED UP IN ORDER TO
GIVE YOU YOUR CREDIT. The procedures are usually as simple
as filling out a questionnaire, responding to a visual or auditory
stimulus, or performing some puzzle-like or problem solving task.
Nevertheless, you always have the right to decline to continue without
any penalty.
.
- When the procedure is
finished, the experimenter will give a full explanation of the study.
The experimenter will assign your credit on the subject pool system.
You will not be given a paper credit slip, but you can check that you have
received your credit on your subject pool account.
.
- You may not have been given all the information about
the
study in advance in
order to prevent such information from influencing your responses. Therefore,
it is very important that you do not share such information with any
other students who may later participate in the study.