Researcher’s Frequently Asked Questions
Updated Spring 2007 (3/2/07)
A) Where do I find the Rules and Regulations for using the Research Pool?
You should have studied the Rules before being allowed to sign up for a researcher account. Please make sure you study the Department's Policies regarding use of the Research Pool on the Department's Web Site:
http://www.psych.ku.edu/psych_resources/experiments_researcher.shtml
Included at this site is a link to the Researcher's Manual for using this system.
What
steps do I take to set up a study?
1) Get
a PI or a Researcher account through Kate in the main office.
2) Set up the study on SONA. See above rules on study name, abstract, and detailed description. Make sure to specify pretest restrictions (if applicable) and course restrictions (if there is a need to screen out advanced students, as for deception studies). Make sure to enter a multiple of 30 minutes for Duration. If it is an online study, make sure to set up a single timeslot at the end of the term or students won't be able to sign up for it.
3)
Contact Kate in the main office to activate your study (make sure to bring your
IRB approval). You may use the "[Send a Request] to make this study visible"
button in SONA to send the request to the office staff.
How
do I restrict participation based on the responses to the pretest survey?
One Option: After you have created your study, click on "View/Modify Restrictions" link. Select the items you want to use to screen participants. Then click on "Set Restrictions" at the bottom of the page. You can then specify the responses that would render someone eligible for you study. There are other options available. See the Researcher's Help File on the Psychology Department's Web Site.
How
do I assign multiple researchers to a single study?
When you are editing your study information / study setup, you can select multiple researchers by holding the CTRL key as you click on researchers' names via the scroll down list.
What
do I put in the “Description” box in my Experiment Header?
Placement of ANY
descriptive information about a study in the experiment header is absolutely
PROHIBITED.
You should include special instructions regarding:
a) the location of your study,
b) clarification of cancellation procedures,
c) clarification of no prior participation,
d) clarification how students are to contact you.
Brief Abstract is what the students see in the full listing of studies. Detailed Description is what they see only if they click on your study. Also include in Detailed Description: principal investigator's name, e-mail, and phone number.
What are the limits on describing studies to participants?
The fundamental principle is no competition for participants because this situation tends to be a losing game for everyone (a "tragedy of the commons" situation as it is called). If, for example, everyone is competing for participants by promising more credits for less time, then the pool gets used up very inefficiently by 15 minutes studies promising 100 credits per person, to make an extreme example. For this reason, 1) names should all be equally bland and non-descriptive; 2) the abstract and description fields cannot provide any information about the studies beyond the exceptions noted above; 3) the duration field should have a multiple of 30 minutes entered. The same rules apply to other forms of contacts such as e-mailings and phone calls. The participant can also be told that they have been selected for an invitation to the study or something along those lines. Once the participant has explicitly agreed to be in the study there are no longer any restrictions (and the participant can withdraw of course). If the participant withdraws at this point, s/he isn't eligible for a credit since the experiment session hasn't actually started yet (no consent form for one thing). Finally, e-mail should be text only (no fancy multi-media or whatnot).
What are the guidelines with respect to naming a study?
Researchers, staff, and participants should refer to a study by the Study Name. When entering the Study Name in the experiment creation phase, please select a name that will uniquely identify your study using the following conventions. The first set of characters should consist of the researchers' last name(s) followed by the characters "Study". A second set of characters can consist of a simple alpha-numeric labeling convention established your research team. You will then use this name to identify your study to participants (e.g., for door signs). For example, "Crandall Study A1" and "Snyder Shorey Study HA4" would be valid Study Names. However, "Grobe Study on Alcohol" would not be a valid name as it includes descriptive information about the study.
Once I have created my study, how do I make it active and visible to participants?
Before a study can officially start running, it must be approved by a system administrator. Once you have created an experiment, contact the office staff in 426 Fraser to verify the following: 1) completion of the department's use quiz, 2) completion of the on-line tutorial required by the HSC, and 3) current HSC-L approval. The staff will verify that your study is compliant & activate your study so that it is visible to participants.
What
students are in the subject pool?
The subject pool consists mostly of PSYC 104 Introductory Psychology students but students from more advanced classes may also participate at the option of the instructor. Studies that need to exclude advanced students, such as deception studies, should select the appropriate classes under Course Restrictions in their study listing. You can use the CTRL key (or the Apple key on a Mac) to select multiple courses. To select a range of classes, click on the top and the bottom class of the range while holding down the shift key.
When
can I run experiments?
Experiments not using prescreening can begin the first day of classes although it is unlikely that any students will sign up that early. During Fall and Spring the prescreen is scheduled to be activated by the second Monday of the term. The last day for running experiments is Stop Day (so that the credits are finalized by the time instructors need to enter grades).
How
many participants can I have in a study?
No single research study may use more than 700 subject participation credits. HSCL approval numbers is not the basis for setting this limit. Likewise, there is no limit at the level of researcher or principal investigator. The limit is solely at the level of individual studies. For purposes of the limit, separate listings on SONA will be counted as part of the same "study" if participating in one makes a student ineligible to particate in another or if one listing is required to participate in another (essentially a two-part study). In addition, a researcher's combined web-based studies cannot exceed 700 participants in a term. Finally, in order to ensure that the subject pool is an educational and varied experience, no one experiment can grant more than six credits.
The
subject pool administrator will track credit use and will shut down experiments
that exceed this limit. When starting a new experiment, do not reuse an
existing study listing or the limit may be inadvertently exceeded.
Note
that SONA will automatically set a limit of 600 hours (1200 credits) for each
experiment. The true limit is 700 credits. We set it at 600 hours because SONA
enforces credit limits based on slots scheduled not actual credits used so as
the limit is approached it becomes difficult to schedule sessions for studies
where many more slots are posted than actually filled.
Exceptions must be approved by the Subject Pool Committee. In general,
researchers should make the assumption that the committee will not grant
exceptions and design experiments to fit within the available resources. The
committee is not in the business of judging the viability of experimental
designs. Although these limits may be frustrating, the purpose is to ensure
that all the students will have the opportunity to complete their theses and
dissertations.
What
do I need to know to run an online study?
Be aware that there both the SONA procedure and the subject pool regulations are somewhat different for online studies. To set up an online study, see the SONA instructions. Note especially that you will need to set up a single timeslot (preferably at the end of the term) with a number of slots equal to the number of participants desired.
The
special subject pool regulation is that you can only have 700 credits total in
all your online studies per term (in addition to the normal 700 credit limit per
study).
How
do I get the pretest data?
The pretest data is available as soon as the pretest is activated and will be continually updated throughout the term. Send an e-mail to the subject pool coordinator. Include the name of the faculty PI (if you are a student) and the name of the researcher who submitted the questions. Also the name of the actual questionnaires etc. I use a combination of these three pieces of information to tell apart the different pretest items. I will then e-mail the responses to these items, along with the common items, to the PI in the form of an Excel file. I am not alllowed to send them directly to students as a faculty member must take responsibility for the often confidential information. Make sure to protect the data to maintain confidentiality.
What
about minors?
In order to run minors (not yet 18) you need two things. First of all, the participant needs to bring a copy of the parental permission slip that s/he obtained from the instructor. This permission slip only covers SONA and the pretest. Second of all, you need to have permission from the HSCL to run minors in your IRB approval, which would definitely include a parental consent form that would also need to be signed before the student could participate. If this situation comes up, you could reschedule the session so that the student can bring the parental consent form home to be signed and bring it back to the lab. If you do not have IRB approval to run minors then it would be advisable to add an age exclusion to the pretest restrictions for your experiment so that the minors do not sign up for your study in the first place.
What
is the policy on “Experimenter No-Shows”?
Experimenter No-Shows will be handled by the EXPERIMENTER. The experimenter should make arrangements to assign +1 credit on the web system and notify the student of the missed appointment with 48 hours. Students are to WAIT 5 MINUTES for the experimenter before determining that it is an experimenter "no show".
