Experiments for Credit: Student Information
University
of Kansas - Department of Psychology Research Participant Pool
(aka Psychology 104 Subject Pool)
General Statement – Revised Spring 2007
Overview
All students enrolled in Introductory Psychology (PSY 104), or other specified courses, are required to have some experience with psychological research. One of the best ways to gain experience is to be directly involved in on-going research investigations. If you agree to serve as a research participant, this document will describe your responsibilities for satisfying the research participation requirement and describe the procedures that you will need to follow. Your participation serves two important functions. First, most of what you learn in your psychology classes is based on carefully conducted research with human volunteers. That research can seem rather mysterious in the abstract. Participation in research gives you a first-hand glimpse into the research enterprise that uncovers the explanations for human behavior. Second, the progress of psychology as a science would be considerably slowed without the help of research participants. Thus, the research requirement represents, in part, service to the psychological community of which you are a part. Other benefits of participating in research are often mentioned in the consent forms of individual experiments, which you will discover when you participate. You will use the following web site to sign up to participate in experiments.
General Information
Obtaining Credits: Credits are gained by participation in research projects. One credit is given for 30 minutes or less of participation. Two credits for 31-60 minutes of participation, and so on.
Credits Required: The instructor of your course will let you know the number of participation credits needed for your class. Check your syllabus. In almost all cases, participants for PSY 104 who agree to serve as research participants must gain at least eleven (11) “experimental credits” during the Fall and Spring terms and six (6) during the Summer terms.
Right to Decline Research Participation Option: If you do not wish to fulfill your requirement through participation in experiments, the course instructor will provide you with alternative projects that you can complete as an alternative to research participation. Your instructor will provide details of this term project.
Right to Refuse Participation in an Experiment: Participation in ANY experimental investigation is voluntary. When you arrive for the experiment, the researcher will provide you with a brief description of the project. At that time, or at any time during the experiment, you have the option of withdrawing without penalty. You should be aware that it is occasionally necessary to withhold some information about the purpose of the experiment until your participation is complete so that an accurate appraisal can be obtained.
Failing to Obtain Enough Credits: When you agree to be a research participant, you must complete enough experiments to accumulate the required number of credits for your course (usually 11 credits during the Fall and Spring and 6 credits during the summer). If a student does not complete the required number of credits by the end of the semester, it is the Psychology Department’s policy to give the student an “Incomplete” instead of the grade earned. The “Incomplete” will remain on the record for one semester. If the required number of credits are completed in the following semester, the “Incomplete” will be changed to the earned letter grade. If the required credits are not completed by the end of the next semester, the incomplete will be changed to an “F”.
Last Day to Obtain Credits: The last day to obtain research participation credits is on STOP DAY for the semester. If you are earning credit through research participation, do not put off obtaining your credits. There may be far fewer opportunities later in the semester, and in fact, if you wait too long you may not be able to earn any credit at all.
Limits on Number of Credits Earned via Web-Based Experiments: Some experiments will be based on the web. In other words you will be able to complete the experiment from any computer that has internet access. However, you may earn no more than 3 credits via web-based experiments. If you earn more than three credits from web-based experiments, your instructor may not allow all of those credits to count toward your participation requirements.
Inclement Weather: Experiments follow the University of Kansas inclement weather policy. If KU cancels classes, then experiment sessions are also cancelled.
Participating in Research - Web Site Instructions
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR:
- Registering with the Psychology Research Participant Pool (at http://ku.sona-systems.com)
- Scheduling appointments for research participation.
- Writing down important information about the experiments for which you sign up.
- Showing up on time for your scheduled research appointments & waiting at least 5 minutes for the experimenter.
- Canceling at least 60 minutes before an appointment if you cannot attend the appointment.
- Keeping your receipt of participation (e.g., copy of consent form) in case there is an error in the system.
REGISTRATION: All students will need to register on the web-based system to participate in the subject pool. If you are making up an “Incomplete”, you may already be on the system (see note below for “Making up Incompletes”). When you first use the system you will need to enroll as a new user. Do this by clicking on the “New Participant - Request an account here" link at the web site given above. You will then be asked to enter the following information:
Name: Please enter your first and last name as it appears on your student ID.
User-ID: This will be your login name for this system. This has to be unique. Ideally you will want to use your user-ID from your KU email address. For example, PERSON@ku.edu would use "PERSON" as their user id. If someone else has used the User-ID you entered, the system will prompt you to enter a different user-ID.
Email Address: Ideally you should enter a KU email address. If you are using a non-KU email address, please be sure your internet service provider allows emails from this system.
Student ID #: Please enter your 7-digit KU ID number. If you only have a 6-digit KU ID, use that instead.
Phone #: Please enter a phone number where you can be reached.
Course #: You will need your course line number and instructors name. Select your course from the drop-down list. If your course is not listed, please contact an administrator.
BE CAREFUL when entering the information. The system will send you your assigned password to the email address you entered. You can change your password after you first logon. If you are unable to register, please drop by 426 Fraser to have a psychology office administrator register your account.
PRESCREENING SURVEY: A pre-screening survey will be made available on the system the second Monday of the term (Fall and Spring or immediately in the Summer). All students will be prompted to complete this survey. You will be required to complete this on-line questionnaire. Your responses to this survey are completely confidential. In addition, you will have the option to decline to answer any particular question. The purpose of this survey is to get information from students so they can be selected into experiments. This data may also be used for publication purposes. The on-line forms you complete are meant to be “screening” questionnaires that researchers will use to recruit eligible participants with selected characteristics, which vary from study to study. Some experiments never show up on the sign-up system. The only way to participate in to these experiments is to be selected from the pre-screening survey. If you qualify for a particular experiment, the individual researcher may call or email you to schedule research appointments for which you will receive credit. During the Fall and Spring terms, if you complete the prescreen by midnite of the third Monday of the term you will receive one (1) credit. This credit does not count towards the limit for web-based studies.
MAKING UP AN INCOMPLETE: If you are making up an Incomplete from the previous semester and you successfully registered in a previous semester, you should already be on the system. You will just need to login to reactivate your account before signing up for experiments. Please verify that the correct course & course line number are selected so that your credits will be assigned to the proper course.
SIGN UP FOR EXPERIMENTS: There are two ways to sign up for experiments.
Use the Web System: All students will need to utilize the web-based scheduling system. Simply click on “Studies” at the system web site after you logon. You will be given some simple instructions on how to schedule yourself for experiments. You should NOT sign up for an experiment that you have already completed.
Contacted by an Experimenter: Individual researchers may contact you if you qualify for their study. Your eligibility is based on your responses to the Pre-screening Survey. If you qualify for a particular experiment, the researchers may contact you via phone or email to see if you are interested in participating in their study for credit. In some cases, the researcher may give you a password that will allow you to sign up for that particular study using the web-based system. Once you complete that study, credits will be recorded on the web-based system.
WRITE DOWN INFORMATION: It is your responsibility to write down and keep the following information about EACH of YOUR appointments:
- Where the experiment is to be conducted (Building and Room Number)
- Time and Date of the experiment (note a.m. or p.m. hours)
- Name of the experiment
- Name of the experimenter
- Telephone number for the experimenter
SHOW UP: Show up and complete the experimental session. The experimenter will give you your credits by recording your visit on the web system. You should NOT sign up for an experiment for which you have already participated or an experiment for which you are not qualified (e.g., male signing up for an experiment requiring all females); you will NOT receive credit for that experiment.
Cancellation Policy
SHOW UP ON TIME: You must show up on time & wait at least 5 minutes for the experimenter. Plan in advance -- give yourself enough time to get to the experiment at the time listed on the sign up page. If you are more than 5 minutes late, your appointment will be recorded as a “NO SHOW” and you will receive a penalty of negative 1 credit (i.e., you will lose a credit of research participation).
To Cancel an Appointment: If you must cancel, then it is necessary for you to do so no later than 60 minutes before the scheduled experiment. There are 3 ways to cancel an appointment:
i) Using the “Cancel” option on the website (Preferred Option & Most Reliable)
ii) Calling the phone number given on the experiment sign-up page.
iii) Following cancellation instructions given to you by the individual experimenter.
It is YOUR RESPONSIBILTY to cancel an experiment that you cannot attend. To cancel an experiment you will need the following information: EXPERIMENT NAME, LOCATION, TIME & DATE, & RESEARCHERS NAME. You are strongly encouraged to cancel using the “Cancel” option on the web site. If you are emailing, calling, or leaving a voice mail message be sure to SPELL your last name, give your ID#, and leave your telephone number, in addition to the experiment information (e.g., study name, researcher’s name). If you do not follow proper cancellation procedures, or if your cancellation message is not clearly received, you may still receive a “no show” penalty.
Failure to Comply: If you fail to comply with cancellation instructions, you may receive a penalty of negative 1 credit. Receiving a negative credit penalty would mean that you would need to complete an additional 30 minutes of participation for every penalty received. You will receive a penalty of one negative credit (i.e., you will lose 1 credit) if:
i) You fail to show-up for an experiment without canceling at least 60 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.
ii) You show up more than 5 minutes late for an appointment, or fail to wait at least 5 minutes for the experimenter.
This means that when you sign up for an experiment, you should double-check your schedule to make absolutely sure that you can make an appointment. Also, when you sign up for a study, make sure that you plan for necessary travel time. Again, cancellations MUST be made no later than 60 minutes before your scheduled experiment time.
Other Important Information
Complaints & Questions about an Experiment: If you have any complaints or questions about an experiment, please first contact the researcher directly. Do NOT contact the system administrator or use web-help. If the researcher fails to address your complaint, please file a "Researcher Complaint Form" in the Psychology Department Office in 426 Fraser (864-4131).
Experimenter Not Present: If you arrive at a research appointment and the experimenter is not present, WAIT for at least 5 minutes (ideally, you should wait at least 10 minutes). If the experimenter does not arrive you may report the experimenter “no show” TO THE EXPERIMENTER as soon as possible. The experimenter may have already made arrangements for you to receive +1 credit because of his or her absence. Please check to see if the experimenter has contacted you &/or given you credit. If not, you will need to report an experimenter “no show” within 24 hours or you may forfeit the credit. You will receive one credit for an experimenter “no show”. To receive credit for the experimenter “no show” you must contact the experimenter and explain your situation. Be sure to leave your name, ID number, time & location of the appointment. The experimenter should respond to your request within 3 days. If the "No Show" occurs during the last 3 days of the semester, experimenters should respond by the day after the last day of experiments. If a participant has not received a satisfactory response, he or she can file a "Complaint Form" with the Psychology Department main office (426 Fraser). The office staff and/or the research pool coordinator will make a final decision on the complaint and assign credit if necessary.
Record Keeping: The credits you earn in experiments, regardless of how you were scheduled, will be stored for you by us in our database. You should also obtain a “receipt” from the experimenter to verify your participation in case of system errors. A “receipt” of participation could take the form of your copy of the consent form with the date, time, & duration of participation. Normally, all credits will be tracked by the web-based system. You will only need your “receipt” if there is an error in the database. Your research credit information will automatically be sent to your instructor at the end of the semester. You can logon to see how many credits you have earned and how many penalties you have received.
Authorization Codes & Study Passwords: If a study requires a password, or authorization code, then that experiment is restricted to only those who qualify based on responses to the Pre-Screener. These passwords are distributed by individual experimenters to participants based on eligibility determined from the Pre-Screening Survey completed on-line. Students who receive these passwords can then use them to sign up for particular studies.
Educational Experience: Research participation should be a valuable educational experience for you. As a research participant, you can usually expect to be given a complete explanation (the “debriefing”) at the end of each study (either immediately, or by email). The purpose of the debriefing is to provide you with information to help you understand more completely the purpose of the study and its potential impact.
Human Subjects Committee Approval: Any experiment in which you participate will have already been approved by the University Human Subjects Committee. This ensures that someone other than the experimenter has determined that the procedures for a study follow strict ethical guidelines. Any risks must be revealed to you prior to your consent to participate. Despite these safeguards, there are still wide variations in people’s reactions to the different kinds of tasks they are asked to perform in research studies. If you feel that you have been mistreated by the experimenter or asked to perform tasks that make you uncomfortable, remember that you have the right to leave any experiment at any time. If you leave an experiment before completing it, you will still receive credit for the amount of your participation.
Act Responsibly: Finally, be conscientious in performing your tasks in each study. The research is very important to the students and faculty conducting it, and your role is very critical to the success of their efforts. Psychology as a science could not exist without the careful and responsible efforts of research participants. Give each study the effort and attention it deserves.
Complaints: If you have a complaint about an experimenter’s behavior, you may file a “Complaint Form” in the Psychology Department Main Office (426 Fraser). You will need the following information: experiment code number, room & building, time & date of the appointment, researcher’s name, & the nature of your complaint. Do not send complaints via email. Please complete a “Complaint Form” in the Psychology Department Office.
Policy Concerns: If you have any questions/concerns about any of these policies you may contact the KU Psychology Department Human Subjects Pool Coordinator, via email at psychpool@ku.edu . You may also contact the KU Lawrence Campus Human Subjects Committee Office at 864-7429 with any concerns or for any additional information regarding human participation in research.