Research Participation for Psy 105 and 106:
Requirements for Students
Click Here to go directly to the Experiment Management System.
For more information see the "Research" section of the
Psychology Department Web Pages
DePaul University Department of Psychology
Research Participant Coordinator
If you have questions or concerns about your research participation for Intro Psych, contact the Research Participant Coordinator.
| Coordinator for 2006-2007: | Darrin Aase | |
| Email: | experiments@davidallbritton.com |
General Information
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.
You must be 18 or older in order to participate in experiments. If you are not yet 18, you must have a parent sign the Parental Consent Form and turn it in before you can participate in any experiments. Once you have turned in the signed parental consent form, you can then sign up for studies.
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.
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.)
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 one-hour units for each session for laboratory studies, one credit for each hour or portion of an hour. So for each separate experimental session you attend, you will receive at least one hour of credit. Web-based studies are typically awarded one-half credit per study, with additional credit awarded in half-hour increments for longer studies.
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.
Deadlines
- All credits must be completed by the last day of classes (before Final Exam week) in order to receive credit.
- Papers must be turned in to the Psychology Department office, room #420 Byrne Hall, by the last class meeting (before Final Exam week) or by the deadline in the syllabus, whichever is earlier.
- Prescreening must be completed during the first two weeks of classes.
Keeping Appointments
If you can not keep an appointment that you have signed up for, you must cancel at least one hour before the scheduled time, using the same web site where you signed up. Cancellation must be done on the web site where you signed up, not by phone, email, or personal communication! If you miss an appointment without cancelling, or are more than 5 minutes late, you will be penalized one hour of research credit. Thus for each "no show" (missed or late appointment) you will have to do one additional hour of research credit.
If you "no-show" to more than one study, you may not be permitted to participate in any further studies and must use summary papers (see below) 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. 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 show up on time but the experimenter is not there within 15 minutes, please leave a note for the experimenter and go to the psychology department office (Byrne 420) to get a signed slip verifying that you were there at the time of your appointment. You may need to show this slip to the Research Participant Coordinator to get credit for your attendance. Be sure to note the experiment number, time, place, date, and other relevant information. 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.
Keeping records
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 should also print out the Student's Records Sheet and use it to keep your own records. You should bring it to each experiment and have the experimenter sign it as proof of your participation. Hold on to it, just in case there is an error in our record keeping. For experiments conducted over the web, you may receive an email as proof of your participation instead, or be presented with a page you can print out for your records.
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.
Alternative Credit
If you do not wish to participate in research, or if you are unable to participate in enough experiments, you will have the option of writing short summary papers instead. Each paper is worth one credit hour. You may do any combination of experiments and papers to complete your requirements.
To write a summary paper, you will need to find an appropriate article in a scientific journal. You can find psychology journals in the periodical section of the DePaul library. You can also retrieve many journal articles from the library's web site (http://www.lib.depaul.edu/).
Journal Article Requirements
- The article must be from a scientific journal, such as the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General or Psychological Science (just to mention two - there are many others). It can not be from a newspaper or magazine, such as Psychology Today or Time. Scientific American articles are acceptable, but only if they are about research that is related to psychology. If you have any question about whether a source is a scientific journal, email the Coordinator and verify that your source is acceptable before you write the paper.
- The article must be about research in or related to psychology. In other words, it must report the results of an empirical study, or summarize the findings from several studies. It must have data.
- The article must be from a current journal issue. This means that the publication date must be from the current calendar year. If, for example, today's date is January 30, 2006, you must use an article published in 2006.
Paper Requirements
- Title Page including:
- "Intro Psych Alternate Research Credit Paper"
- Your name
- DePaul ID number
- instructor
- course and section number (This is the course for which the credit will be assigned)
- Reference information for the article, including author, title, source, and date of publication
- 1 to 2 pages of text
- 12 point, Times New Roman font
- Double-spaced
Please keep in mind that you will not receive credit for a paper that does not meet the requirements outlined above. Also remember that if you wait until the last minute to turn in your papers, there will not be time for you to revise a paper or appeal a grade of no-credit on a paper.
Finally, remember that the optional papers are a class assignment, subject to the same rules of academic integrity as any other course work. Plagiarism, turning in the same paper twice or for two different classes, or other violations of academic integrity will be reported to your instructor and the university.
Prescreening
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,
Click Here to go to the Experiment Management System.
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.
Note that all participant accounts are deleted at the end of each quarter after grades have been turned in. If you had an account as a participant during a previous quarter, therefore, you will need to create a new account at the beginning of this quarter - your old account will no longer be available.
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.
Updated December 20, 2006