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Research Participants

For all students enrolled in face-to-face sections of PSYC 1000 or PSYC 1060, 5% of your final grade will result from earning 5 credits for research-related activities. That is, 5% of your total course points will result from research activity, and the remaining 95% from the regular exams, quizzes, and other assignments/activities documented in your course syllabus.

Some instructors have an all or nothing policy with respect to research activity credits – that is, if you do not earn all five required credits, then you get zero points from research activities. Other instructors will give you course points in proportion to the number of credits you have earned, up to 5% of the total course points. Check your syllabus to determine the method your instructor employs. Regardless, to fulfill this requirement, you must earn these credits by the following deadlines.

Completion Dates:

Fall 2012

  • Start-of-Semester Survey (SoSS): 8/21/2012 through 9/3/2012
  • Data collection begins: 9/4/2012
  • 50% deadline: 10/26/2012 (extended 1 week)
  • Data collection ends: 12/4/2012
  • End-of-Semester Survey (EoSS): 12/5/2012 through 12/8/2012
  • Final data available: 12/9/2012

Spring 2013

  • Start-of-Semester Survey (SoSS): 1/14/2013 through 1/27/2013
  • Data collection begins: 1/28/2013
  • 50% deadline: 3/8/2013
  • Data collection ends: 4/30/2013
  • End-of-Semester Survey (EoSS): 5/1/2013 through 5/4/2013
  • Final data available: 5/5/2013

Please note that you are required to complete 50% of this requirement (i.e., 2.5 credits) by the midpoint of the semester. If you only complete 2.0 credits before the midpoint the maximum amount of credits you can be awarded at the end of the semester is 4.5; however, you may complete more than 2.5 prior to the mid-semester point (e.g., you can earn all 5 of the required credits during the first two weeks of class).

Step 1

First, create an account at ecu.sona-systems.com:

  1. Go to ecu.sona-systems.com. Look for "New Participant?" in the lower left of the screen, and click "Request an account here."
  2. Provide the required information, being careful to (a) use your PIRATE ID and (b) select the CORRECT COURSE SECTION. You must use your PirateID as your identification in order for your credits to show up on your professor's report. Your PirateID is what you use to access your ECU e-mail account (e.g., smithj10). Please do not include "@students.ecu.edu". Additionally, you must select the correct section that you are enrolled in to show up on your professor's report.
    Click "Request Account."
  3. Check your e-mail for a verification message to complete your registration.
  4. Logon to ecu.sona-systems.com using your PIRATE ID and the password that was emailed to you.

Step 2

Second, earn research credits. You can earn credits by doing the following:

  1. Completing the start-of-semester survey (SOSS) which will be available via Sona-Systems (ecu.sona-systems.com)  at the beginning of the semester. Completing this survey will award 1 credit.
  2. Participating in research studies from throughout the semester. To sign-up for a research study visit ecu.sona-systems.com. Every hour of research participation will award you 1 credit.
  3. Reading research articles and taking the associated quizzes throughout the semester. More details regarding this option are noted below. Each passing quiz grade (i.e., 60% or greater) will award .5 credits.
  4. Completing the end-of-semester survey (EOSS) which will be available via Sona-Systems (ecu.sona-systems.com) at the end of the semester. Completing this survey will award 1 credit.
  5. Any combination of the above choices.

Once again, please note that you must complete 50% of this requirement (i.e., have earned 2.5 credits) by the midpoint of the semester (this date is listed above). Any extra points that are earned after this point will not count towards fulfilling this initial requirement. For example, if you earn 2.0 credits prior to the mid-semester deadline and then earn an additional 3.5 credits before the end of the semester, you will have only earned 4.5 credits. However, you may complete the entire requirement prior to the mid-semester deadline. For example, if you earn 5.0 credits prior to the midpoint of the semester then you will have fulfilled the research participation requirement.

Additional Information

Here is some more detailed information about how to earn your 5 credits: 

Option #1: Participating In Research Studies

You can view available studies, sign up to participate, and track your credits on ecu.sona-systems.com. Studies will be worth varying amounts of credit depending on how long they take. Each hour of participation is worth 1 credit. Please note that many studies takes less than one hour to complete and subsequently award less credit.

When you sign up for a study, be sure to write down (1) the time, (2) place, (3) experimenter's name, and (4) experimenter's e-mail address. It is very important for you to show up promptly at the scheduled time. However, if you cannot attend a study that you have signed up for, go to Sona-Systems and cancel your session as soon as possible so that other students may sign up in your place. If it is less than 24 hours before your scheduled time, send an e-mail message to the experimenter informing him/her that you will not be there for your appointment. Please note that if you miss three (3) or more appointments you will be prevented from participating in further studies or Option #2 and will then have to complete the research requirement with Option #3.

Option #2: Reading Research Articles and Taking a Quiz

The research articles relating to this option are listed below. The number to the left of the article is the "Quiz Number." After reading one of these articles you will need to log into Sona-Systems (ecu.sona-systems.com) and schedule a time to come to the Experimentrak office in Rawl 127 to take the associated quiz. Time slots will be available under the Research Articles entry on Sona-Systems. When you arrive for your appointment you must know the number of the quiz you wish to take (i.e., the "Quiz Number" to the left of the article). If you take the wrong quiz it will still be graded and you will have to schedule another appointment to take the correct quiz. Additionally, you may only attempt each quiz once. When taking the quiz you will have 10 minutes to complete it and will only receive credit if you score a 60% or better. Thus, it is critically important that you have read the article before attempting to complete the quiz. Additionally, you must be on time for your appointment. If you are more than 5 minutes late you will be required to reschedule for a later time. If you miss three (3) or more appointments you will be prevented from taking additional quizzes or participating in research studies (i.e., Option #1) and will then have to complete the research participation requirement via Option #3.

The research articles below are in .pdf format, so you can download them and read them on your computer or you can open the file and print out the article. Each passing quiz grade will award .5 credits. You may want to take notes to help you understand the article. The quizzes are open notes, so you may look at the article as you are answering the questions.

Option #3: Reading Research Articles and Writing a Paper

This option is only for students who have failed to keep appointments that they have made for Options #1 and #2. This is not an option that may be engaged in without permission from the Experimentrak coordinator. The research articles relating to this option are listed below. After reading one of these articles you will need to write a three (3) page double spaced summary of the research that was presented in the study. This is to be written in 12-point Times New Roman font with 1" margins. Failure to following these formatting requirements will result in no credit being awarded. Each research summary will be submitted to the SafeAssign system to ensure that they are the original work of the student submitting it. Any plagiarized work will not receive credit. Each passing articles is worth .5 credits.

If the above steps are not completed by the indicated deadline then your grade in PSYC 1000/1060 will drop by up to 5%.

More detailed tutorials can be found by clicking here.

Need more help? Just send us an email:
experimentrak@ecu.edu

Research Articles