Course Credit for Research Participation

The Psychology Research Sign-up System, also known as the Sona system, is an online system for managing research studies conducted by faculty of the UNCW Psychology Department. Researchers post descriptions of their studies along with their location, duration, and number of credits.

Students in participating classes can browse these descriptions and sign-up for studies for which they are eligible. Researchers then use the system to track student participation and issue course credits.

Login Page For the Sona system

To sign-up for a study, you must enter your user ID and password on the login page. If you do not have login information, ask your instructor whether you are eligible to participate in research. If you are eligible, contact the Psychology Research Administrator to get your login information.

You can also watch this video tutorial about how to access and use the Sona system.

Yes. Both ways of earning credit are in the Sona system — research studies and article-based alternative assignments are listed together in your account.

In general, yes, minors (students under 18) can participate and earn credit in psychology experiments, although they must sign an Acknowledgement Form (provided by the experimenter), and in certain cases there may be restrictions on participation.

Please see this document for more information about how minors can participate in experiments.

In addition to earning course credit, research participation gives you hands-on experience with the psychological research process and introduces you to techniques that may be useful for a career in psychology. It also allows you to contribute to the scientific study of mind, brain, and behavior.

Research participants receive ½ credit for every 30 minutes of participation. For example, studies lasting 30 minutes or less will earn ½ credit, studies lasting between 31 and 60 minutes will be worth 1 credit, those between 61 and 90 minutes will be worth 1.5 credits, etc.

No. As described in the My Responsibilities section below, you will not lose previously-earned credits if you fail to show up for an experiment.

However, failing to show up, or being late, for a scheduled experiment is recorded in the sign-up system as an “unexcused absence”. After two unexcused absences, your account is limited for the rest of the semester: you can still sign in and see your credits, but you can no longer sign up for research studies. You would then earn your remaining credits through the article-based alternative assignments, which stay available to you.

Please read about the Rights and Responsibilities sections below for complete details.

You have rights as a research participant. First, you may elect not to participate in any studies. Most students find research participation fun and educational, but it is completely voluntary. Instead of participating in studies, you can earn your research credits by completing article-based alternative assignments. Second, you are free to leave an experiment early without penalty (although you will only receive credit for the time you actually participated).

Finally, provisions are taken to protect your privacy as a participant and to maintain the confidentiality of any information you provide. Prior to each experiment, you will be asked to read and sign a consent form that will outline your rights as a participant.

There are rules and responsibilities for research participants. The most important of these are described below.

• Protecting your account: You must change your password the first time you log in to your Sona account. Keeping the default password makes your account vulnerable. You are responsible for all activity in your account, so please choose a secure password and keep it confidential.

• Canceling your appointment for a study: You can use the Sona system to cancel a study provided it is at least 24 hours in advance of the study's start time. Simply log in, click "My Schedule and Credits", then "Sign-Up History", and select "Cancel" next to the study you need to cancel. If you need to cancel within 24 hours of your appointment, it is your responsibility to contact the researcher directly using the contact information provided on the study's sign-up page and in the confirmation e-mail. If you fail to notify the researcher prior to your scheduled time, Sona will count it as an "unexcused absence".

• Being late for an experiment: Please be on time for all experiments. Being late may result in receiving an unexcused absence".

• Receiving two unexcused absences: If you fail to appear, or are late, for two scheduled studies, your account will be limited for the rest of the semester. You can still sign in to Sona and see your credits, but you can no longer sign up for research studies. If this happens, you should (a) cancel any remaining studies, by phone or email, for which you have already signed up — reaching the limit does not cancel appointments you have already booked; and (b) earn your remaining credits through the article-based alternative assignments. Feel free to discuss these options with your instructor.

• Participating in the same study twice: Unless it is a multi-part study, or explicitly states that you can participate more than once, you can only participate in a study one time.

• Availability of studies: Studies are posted continuously throughout the semester and there is generally ample opportunity for participation. However, we cannot guarantee the availability of studies at any time, so it is a good idea to get started early to ensure that you are able to fulfill your requirement.

Please note that it is the responsibility of all students using the research signup system to read and follow all of the rules and procedures associated with this system.

You can keep track of your credits and absences (excused and unexcused) using the Sona system. Simply log in and go to the "My Schedule/Credits" menu. Click on "Sign-Up History" at the bottom of the page to see the studies in which you have participated and the credits/absences you have received. You can also use this menu to apply your credits toward specific courses if you are enrolled in more than one course that accepts research-participation credit.

Instructors have their own Sona accounts that keep track of their students’ research-participation credits. You may want to verify that your Sona account shows the correct course AND section for which you want to receive credit. If your class affiliation is not correct, your instructor won’t be able to see your credits.

If the researcher is not at the designated location at your scheduled time, wait at least 15 minutes. You should also double-check the time and location of the study to make sure the error isn't yours.

If you are on time, at the correct location, and waited 15 minutes but the researcher still did not show up, please contact the Psychology Research Administrator as soon as possible and notify them of the situation--including the name, time, & location of the study, and the researcher in question. If the researcher is judged to be at fault, you will receive full credit for the missed study.

As part of the sign-up process, you will be given the specific location of the study. You should record this information and ensure that you know how to find the correct building prior to your scheduled appointment.

You can also use the online interactive campus map. Failure to find the location of a study is not a legitimate excuse for missing a scheduled appointment.

Yes, all students enrolled in PSY 105 and PSY 106 during the fall and spring semesters must complete the out-of-class research requirement, regardless of the course's instructional format.

If you are unable, or prefer not, to participate in research studies, you can earn your research credits by completing article-based alternative assignments.

The Sona system closes each semester at 11:59 pm on Reading Day, so that researchers can assign final participation credits. The date for the current semester is published in the Statement Concerning Out-of-Class Activities. After this time, students will no longer be able to sign up for studies, complete article-based alternative assignments, or earn any research credits. Plan to have all your research credits earned by this deadline. If you fail to earn your credits by this time, you will receive an incomplete for your course.

Students who fail to earn their required research credits during the fall and spring semesters (6 credits for PSY 105, 2 credits for PSY 106, and 8 credits for students enrolled in both) will receive an incomplete ("I") grade in their course. To convert this incomplete to a letter grade, students will need to earn any remaining research credits in the next full (fall or spring) semester. If you fail to complete your research requirement by the next full (fall or spring) semester, your incomplete will convert to an F (so don't let this happen!).

Note that, as described above, the Sona System is not available during the summer. This means that, if you receive an incomplete in the spring, you will have to wait until the following fall semester to complete your research requirement and convert your incomplete to a letter grade.

If you receive an incomplete for failing to complete your research requirement, you should contact the Psychology Research Administrator for further instructions.

Please contact the Psychology Research Administrator. Instructors or researchers who would like a copy of the official Sona manual should also contact the Psychology Research Administrator.

An article-based alternative assignment gives you an article covering the science of psychology to read, and then asks you a set of questions about it online. The questions cover the goals of the study, the methods used, the results found, and the authors’ conclusions. You complete these assignments in Sona, and Sona scores them and posts the credit automatically.

Look for these assignments in your Sona account, listed alongside the research studies. There is no separate website, no enrollment link, and nothing to sign up for. Choose an assignment, read the article it gives you, then answer the questions about it online. Each article gives you two attempts, and the score you need to pass is shown within the assignment itself. If you leave partway through, that uses up both attempts — so start an article only when you have time to finish it. As soon as you pass, the credit is added to your Sona account automatically — there is nothing to submit and nobody to wait for.

Each assignment you pass is worth 1 research credit, added to your Sona account automatically. There is no partial credit — you either reach the passing score or you do not.

Each assignment comes with its own article. You do not choose one — open the assignment and the article is there.

You can complete these assignments any time during the semester, up to the same deadline that applies to research participation: 11:59 pm on Reading Day. The date for the current semester is published in the Statement Concerning Out-of-Class Activities.

No. Each assignment can earn credit once. If you need credit for more than one course, complete different assignments — your credits count toward your total however they are allocated between your courses.

No. Each assignment is worth 1 credit if you reach the passing score, and nothing if you do not.

Yes, you can complete the research requirement using any combination of credits earned through research participation and article-based alternative assignments.

No. Once you have earned all the credits your course requires, you cannot start another assignment.

Yes, students of all ages are allowed to complete these assignments.

You will see your score as soon as you finish. Each article gives you two attempts. If you use both without passing, that article does not earn credit — you can then start a different assignment and earn the credit there. Leaving an article partway through uses up both attempts, so start one only when you have time to finish it.

Sign in to Sona and go to “My Schedule/Credits”. Credit from these assignments appears there alongside your research participation credits — it is one running total, not two.

Credit from these assignments is posted in Sona like any other research credit, so your instructor sees it in their own Sona account. Instructors can also reach out to the Psychology Research Administrator (at pra@uncw.edu) for a current credit summary, and will receive final credit counts by email at the end of the semester.

Yes, all students enrolled in PSY 105 and PSY 106 during the fall and spring semesters, regardless of the course's instructional format, must complete the research requirement. If you prefer to earn your credit by participating in research studies, please visit our Research Participation FAQs above.

No, at present, students enrolled in PSY 105 and PSY 106 during the summer are not required to complete the research requirement.

Students who fail to earn required research credits during the fall and spring semesters (6 credits for PSY 105, 2 credits for PSY 106, 8 credits for students enrolled in both) will receive an incomplete ("I") grade in their course. To convert this incomplete to a letter grade, students will need to earn any remaining research credits in the next full (fall or spring) semester. If you fail to complete your research requirement by the next full (fall or spring) semester, your incomplete will convert to an F (so don't let this happen!).

Note that, as described above, research credits cannot be earned during the summer. This means that, if you receive an incomplete in the spring, you will have to wait until the following fall semester to complete your research requirement and convert your incomplete to a letter grade.

If you receive an incomplete for failing to complete your research requirement, you should contact the Psychology Research Administrator for further instructions.

Please contact the Psychology Research Administrator.