PSY 120 Research Participant Pool

Table of Contents

• General Information
• Instructions for IRB Protocol Preparation
• Instructions for Sona Study Approval
• Consent Form
• Debriefing
• Sona Study Description
• Setting Up Your Study on Sona
• Obtaining a Researcher Account on Sona

General Information

Researchers can find general information about using the PSY 120 research participant pool in the linked document: Procedures Concerning Administration of the PSY 120 Pool.

The PSY 120 research participant pool is operated using the Sona website.

If you are a researcher and have questions about using the PSY 120 pool or getting a study set up, approved, or run on Sona, please contact the Sona Coordinator, Dr. Darryl Schneider (dws@purdue.edu).

If you are a participant (i.e., a student in PSY 120) and have questions, concerns, or issues related to your participation in research, please email psychstudies@purdue.edu.

Instructions for IRB Protocol Preparation

All studies using the PSY 120 research participant pool must first be approved by Purdue's Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB website has instructions for how to prepare and submit a protocol via the Cayuse online system. When preparing your protocol, there are some requirements and other considerations for your protocol that specifically pertain to using the PSY 120 pool:

• Title: Choose a title for your IRB protocol that will also be suitable as your study title on Sona because the titles must match.
• Consent Form: You must have a consent form that includes the specific information described below.
• Debriefing: You must include an educational debriefing with your protocol; the format and a template are provided below.
• Sona Study Description: You must include the study description and details you plan to post on Sona; the format and a template are provided below.

Instructions for Sona Study Approval

Once you have an approved IRB protocol, you can set up your study on Sona and request for it to be approved:

• Setting Up Your Study on Sona: Log in to Sona, click "Add New Study" from the menu bar, and follow the prompts to fill in the details for your study, based on the Sona Study Description approved by the IRB. Information about some of the prompts is provided below.
  • You must first have a researcher account to log in to Sona; see these instructions for how to obtain a researcher account. If you want additional researchers to have access to your study on Sona and they do not already have researcher accounts, the same instructions can be followed to arrange those accounts.
  • Note: A Sona "study number" is no longer required with your study title.
• Requesting Study Approval: After your study is set up on Sona, email the following documents to the Sona Coordinator (Darryl Schneider, dws@purdue.edu):
  1. Approved IRB protocol (a PDF copy can be downloaded from Cayuse).
  2. Consent form
  3. Debriefing
  4. Sona study description
  • Note: The consent form, debriefing, and Sona study description should be the same documents submitted earlier for IRB protocol approval. No new or revised documents need to be created for Sona study approval. A separate "request form" is no longer required for study approval.
  • Requests can only be submitted by faculty members, postdocs, graduate students, and lab managers. Undergraduate students can assist in document preparation, but the request must be made by one of the aforementioned individuals in their lab.
  • By submitting a request, you are affirming that the study posted on Sona is based on a research protocol that has been approved by the Purdue University Institutional Review Board (IRB) and is considered to be in active status by the IRB, and that this research will be conducted in accordance with all Federal, State, University, and Department procedures and regulations.

Consent Form

The IRB website has instructions and templates for consent forms. In order to use the PSY 120 pool, the following information must be included in the designated sections of your consent form, over and above anything required by the IRB:

• In the section "How long will I be in the study?", you must indicate the duration of the study (e.g., "A single session not exceeding 30 minutes.").
• In the section "Will I receive payment or other incentive?", you must indicate how many credits will be earned for participation in the study (e.g., "You will earn 1 research credit for your participation.").
  • Students are to receive 1 credit per half hour (or portion thereof) of participation (e.g., 2 credits would be earned for any study taking between 31 and 60 minutes).
  • Your consent form cannot state that credit will be withheld if the study is not completed. Students may withdraw from a study at any time without penalty and will receive credit for the time spent in the study.
• In the section "Will information about me and my participation be kept confidential?", you must include the text: "Exception: If you are under 18 years old, then your data will be destroyed because we do not have parental consent for your participation. Thank you, however, for participating in the research as a learning experience."
  • Note that you cannot restrict participation in your study to students who are 18 years or older. However, you can ask every participant to report their age, and discard the data of any participant who is under 18 years old.

Debriefing

A well-written debriefing provides a teaching opportunity and makes research participation an educational experience. To ensure consistency in debriefings across different studies, your debriefing must follow the format described below. A formatted template is available for you to fill in with your study's information and an example is also available.

Debriefing for [Title of Study]
IRB Protocol #: [number]

1. What is the general aim of this research?
State the larger goal of this line of research.

2. Is this correlational or experimental research?
If the study is experimental, name and describe one independent variable and one dependent variable. If the study is correlational, name and describe the two variables that you will be correlating. State your prediction or expected result.

3. What topic in introductory psychology does this research illustrate?
Link the research to a specific topic that is typically covered in introductory psychology texts.

4. Where can I learn more about this type of research?
For published research related to the topic of this study, please see:

Cite two published sources (one of which must be an empirical article in a peer-reviewed journal) for further reading, using APA style for the references.

5. Which faculty member is supervising this research and how can I contact her/him/them?
Dr. Jane Doe, an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, is supervising this research. You can contact her by phone at 765-494-xxxx or by email at doe@purdue.edu.

6. How long has the investigator been studying this topic and how does this study fit into the investigator's program of research?
Dr. Doe has been studying [topic] for over X years. The current study is designed to [...]

A lot of research in psychology depends on the participation of individuals like yourself. We're very grateful for your help. Thank you very much for participating.

Sona Study Description

The IRB may ask you to include your recruitment materials in your protocol submission. If you are using the PSY 120 pool, then this will be a copy of the study description you will eventually post on Sona. The study description will typically follow the format below. A template is available for you to fill in with your study's information and an example is also available.

1. Study Name: [Title of study.]

2. Duration: [Time to complete the study.]

3. Credits: [Number of credits earned for participating in the study.]

4. Description: [Brief description of what participants will be asked to do in the study, written in a manner that can be easily understood by an introductory psychology student. Include any additional details (e.g., "this is a 2-part experiment").]

5. Eligibility Requirements: [List any requirements or restrictions a participant must meet to be eligible to participate in the study. Note that you cannot restrict participation in your study to students who are 18 years or older.]

6. IRB Approval Code: [IRB protocol number from Cayuse.]

7. Contact Information: [Faculty member's name and email address.]

Setting Up Your Study on Sona

Researchers are responsible for setting up their own studies on Sona. To set up a study, log in to Sona, click "Add New Study" from the menu bar, and follow the prompts to fill in the details for your study. Here are answers to frequently asked questions about some of the prompts:

• Select Study Type: You must select one of the credit options; the PSY 120 pool is not used for paid studies.
  
  
• Study Name: Use the same study title as your approved IRB protocol. If you have multiple studies/experiments approved under the same IRB protocol, you can set up separate listings for each of them on Sona (i.e., "Add New Study" for each of them) and distinguish between them by adding a numerical or alphabetical identifier after the study title (e.g., "Memory Study 1" and "Memory Study 2"; "Decision Making A" and "Decision Making B").
  
  
• Brief Abstract: This field can be left blank.
  
  
• Detailed Description: This field is where you paste the Description from the Sona Study Description document you submitted to the IRB.
  
  
• Eligibility Requirements: This field is where you paste the Eligibility Requirements from the Sona Study Description document you submitted to the IRB. Write "None" if there are no requirements.
  
  
• Duration: Indicate the duration (in minutes) of your study.
  
  
• Credits: Indicate the number of credits (a whole number; no fractions) to be earned for participating in the study.
  
  
• Preparation: This field can be left blank unless participants must prepare for your study in some way (e.g., not consuming caffeine 24 hours before the study). Any preparations must be listed in your Sona Study Description document.
  
  
• Researcher: Select the name(s) of the study's researcher(s) from the menu. A person is only listed in the menu if they have a researcher account on Sona. Please see these instructions for how to obtain a researcher account.
  
  
• IRB Approval Code: Write your approved IRB protocol number here.
  
  
• Pre-Requisites: If applicable, choose the study or studies from the menu that participants must have already completed in order to sign up for the current study.
  
  
• Disqualifiers: If applicable, choose the study or studies from the menu that participants must not have already completed in order to sign up for the current study. This is useful if you have multiple studies/experiments under the same IRB protocol and you want to ensure that participants only do one of the studies.
  
  
• Study URL: For online studies, this is where you include the link to your study's website. Click the "Detailed Help" icon for information about how to configure your link for automatic credit granting in Sona.
  
  
• Participant Sign-Up Deadline: You can shorten the deadline from the default of 24 hours if you are okay with sign-ups occurring with shorter notice.
  
  
• Researchers at Timeslot-Level: Select "Yes" if your study has multiple researchers and you want specific researchers assigned to specific timeslots.

Obtaining a Researcher Account on Sona

If you are working in a research lab and need a researcher account on the Sona website used for the PSY 120 research participant pool, please follow these steps, which are described in more detail in this document:

1. Complete online CITI training for Social Behavioral Research and for Responsible Conduct of Research.
2. Request a researcher account by emailing the Sona Coordinator with your name, email address, name of your faculty mentor, and PDFs of both your CITI certificates.