Instructions for Students

Follow this link to a list of questions commonly asked by students like yourself: Participant FAQ

All students in either of DePaul's Introductory Psychology courses (Psy 105 and Psy 106) are required to participate in research studies as part of the course. The research participation requirement gives students the opportunity to see psychological science in action, and to learn about research that is being done at DePaul. The experiments are conducted by faculty and graduate students in the department of psychology, and all have been reviewed to ensure that they meet ethical guidelines.

The prescreening survey is available on the web during the first two weeks of classes. It should take you one hour or less, and is worth one half-hour to one hour of research participation credit (depending on the length of the survey each quarter). After you register at the link below ("Signing Up for Experiments") you will be asked to complete the prescreening survey the first time you log into the system. You must do the prescreening survey the first time you log in (immediately after you agree to the "Human Subjects and Privacy Policy"). If you decline to do the prescreening, you will not have another opportunity later. 

It is very important that you register and complete the prescreening survey during the first two weeks of classes. After that date, the prescreening survey will be unavailable and you will miss out on an easy opportunity to complete 1/2 to 1 hour of research participation credit over the web. You will also miss out on many additional experiments that have prescreening as a prerequisite.

SIGNING UP FOR EXPERIMENTS   

To participate in an experiment, you must sign up on the web at http://depaul.sona-systems.com. It is important that you set up your account as soon as possible, even if you plan to do only optional papers rather than experiments, so that your instructor can verify your enrollment and record your credits correctly. You must also have an account set up in order to receive important announcements regarding the Research Paricipation Requirements throughout the quarter. When you are ready to sign up,

Go to the Experiment Management System.

If you already have an account that you created for a previous course, just log in using that account.  (If you can not remember your username or password, email the Coordinator and ask to have the information sent to you.)  Otherwise you will need to create an account:  Click on "Request an account here" under "New Participant?" on the experiment management system page. In the "UserID" box, enter the user name you want to use to log in each time you use the system. (It can be anything that is not already being used by someone else.) You must also supply an email address where your password will be sent to you. In the "Student ID Number" box, enter your DePaul ID number. Be sure to select the correct section in the "Courses" window (scroll up or down if your section does not appear in the list). If your section is not listed, email the Research Participation Coordinator.

If you choose to change your password, please do NOT use a password that you use for Campus Connect or any other important purpose. If you forget your password, email the Coordinator and he or she can assign you a new one.

When you sign up for a study, Be sure to write down all the information about the experiment (time, place, experimenter, experimenter's phone number, experiment number) when you sign up. It is your responsibility to keep track of this information, and you will not always be contacted with a reminder of the appointment.

For students who wish to opt out of participating in studies, or have been blocked from participation for two "no-shows", you can find more information about the alternative paper option here.

You must be 18 or older in order to participate in most studies.  Some studies may be able to enroll students who are under 18 with parental permission.  Those studies will say "Students under 18 must have parental permission" in the "Eligibility" column in the list of studies, or will otherwise indicate that participants can be under 18 years old. If the "Eligibility" column says "Must be at least 18 years old" without any mention of an exception for parental permission, however, no one under 18 may participate.  Under the federal regulations, minors (persons under the age of 18 in Illinois) may not participate in survey or interview research determined to be exempt by the IRB/Office of Research Protections. In order to participate in minimal risk/expedited review research protocols, students under the age of 18 must obtain a general written parental permission to participate in any study at the beginning of the quarter and have that document on file in the main office of the Psychology Department (420 Byrne). Each student should then provide assent for participation in each specific research study they participate in.

If you are not yet 18, you must have a parent sign the Parental Consent Form and turn it in to the Research Participation Coordinator in the Psychology Department main office before you can participate in any experiments. Once you have turned in the signed parental consent form, you can then sign up for studies that have approval to enroll students who are under 18.  You will also need to present a copy of your parental consent form to each experimenter when you arrive, so make a copy for yourself before turning it in.

NUMBER OF HOURS   

Basic Requirement: Each student is required to participate in 5 hours of experimental research for Psy 105 and an additional 5 hours for Psy 106. Failure to complete this basic requirment will result in a lower grade in the class. For each hour you fail to complete, your course grade will be reduced by 1/3 letter grade.

Extra Credit: After you complete the required 5 hours per course of research participation, you may do up to two additional hours per course for extra credit. If you complete a total of 6 hours (5 hours for the basic requirement plus one for extra credit), your course grade will be increased by 1/6 letter grade (about 2%). If you complete 7 hours, you will receive 1/3 letter grade extra credit (changing a B+ to an A- for example). The maximum extra credit available for each course is 2 hours (1/3 letter grade). Extra credit can be applied only to a passing grade (D or better); a grade of F is not eligible for extra credit.  Some instructors may use a slightly different system for calculating penalties and extra credit from that described here. Check your course syllabus for any changes.

Important Note: The number of credits required for each course will not be reduced during the course of the term. If you are unable to complete enough experiments to fulfill the requirement, you will need to complete enough summary papers to make up the difference. (See "Alternative Credit" below.)

Bonus for Lab Studies: Some experiments may take less than an hour, some may take more than one hour, and some may require that you come back for more than one session.  You will receive participation credits in half-hour units (0.5 credits for 30 minutes or less, 1.0 credits for 60 minutes or less, etc.).  In addition, a one-half credit bonus is awarded for each laboratory-based study for which you arrive on time.  A 30-minute lab study, therefore, is worth 1.0 credits, a 60-minute lab study is worth 1.5 credits, and so on - IF you arrive on time for your scheduled appointment.  Thus, in-person lab-based studies are worth more credits than online studies of the same length.

It is very important that you keep your appointments for lab studies and arrive on time.  The faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates working on research projects waiting to conduct the experiment are busy just like you are, and it was just as difficult for them to find time to run the experiment as it was for you to find time to do it.  When you miss an appointment without canceling, you make it harder for the students running the experiments to finish collecting data in order to complete a project for a class, or to get their degree.  Please be considerate!

If you can not keep an appointment that you have signed up for, you must cancel the appointment using the same web site where you signed up.  For most studies, you must cancel at least 1 hour in advance. Studies which require more advance notice of a cancellation (up to 24 hours prior to the study) will clearly say so in the study requirements when you sign up. Cancellation must be done on the web site where you signed up, not by phone, e-mail, or personal communication! If you "no-show" or are more than five minutes late to more than one study, you may not be permitted to participate in any further studies and must use summary papers to complete your credits. If exceptional circumstances prevented you, through no fault of your own, from cancelling, you will need to provide a note from the dean of students' office documenting that you were, due to sudden illness or emergency, unable to use the web site to cancel prior to your experiment. This note must be given to the Coordinator, NOT to the researcher or your instructor.

Please be on time to your appointments.  You must be on time to be eligible for the 0.5 credit bonus for lab studies. If you are late do not disturb other participants if the researcher has a sign up asking you not to knock or enter after the experiment has started.  If you are more than 5 minutes late, you may be counted as a "no-show" and may not be permitted to do the experiment.  If you can not do the experiment because you were late, you will not receive credit for the study.

If you show up on time but the experimenter is not there within 15 minutes, please leave a note for the experimenter and download this Form. Fill it out and email it to depaulpsychexp@yahoo.com. Turning this slip in to the Research Participant Coordinator will help insure you receive credit for your attendance. If the Coordinator is able to verify your information with the experimenter, you will receive one credit for the experiment. If you missed the experiment because you arrived late or at the wrong location, however, you will not receive credit.

After each experiment, the researcher will record your participation so that you receive credit for the study. If the experimenter asks you to fill in your name on a participant log, be sure to print clearly.

 

You can check your credit totals any time in the Experiment Management System​ web site. Keep in mind that it may take a day or two after a study is completed for credit to appear in the system.

Be sure to assign your credits to the course for which you want them counted. In many cases your credits will be initially "unassigned" and will not be counted until you assign them to a specific course. If you are enrolled in both Psy 105 and 106, you also have the option of changing which course credit is assigned for up until the last day of regular classes.

If you have questions or concerns about your research participation for Intro Psych, contact the Research Participant Coordinator at the following email address: depaulpsychexp@yahoo.com​