Purposes of the Subject Pool

The purposes of the subject pool are to: (a) encourage students in Psych 1 and Psych 170 (and other courses, at the instructor's discretion) to learn more about the conduct of psychology experiments through participation in a small number of them; and (b) to provide a pool of subjects for experiments conducted by advanced undergraduates (in the context of research courses or faculty-supervised independent study), and Psychology graduate students and faculty.

The Role of the Subject Pool Coordinator (SPC) in overseeing the subject pool

The DUS has charged the Subject Pool Coordinator (SPC) with developing request procedures, reviewing requests for approval of specific projects for use in the subject pool, and overseeing the credit bookkeeping system. The SPC will also be responsible for allocating to each investigator and instructor the number of subject hours he or she may use in a given semester.

Approval of experiments

In order for an application for the Subject Pool to be considered (see Appendix), the experiment must first have received approval or clearance from the University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board (IRB). The proposal to the IRB should clearly state that some participants will be recruited from courses, and that they will receive course credit or extra credit for their participation. Proposals submitted to the SPC should have a brief description of the experiment and, most importantly, a clear and throrough statement of the manner in which debriefing will be given to each subject. Please keep foremost in mind that the debriefing, in conjunction with participation in the experiment, will serve an educational function. Thus, the debriefing will need to include a description of the rationale and hypotheses of the study. Ordinarily the subject will receive a written explanation of this sort. When possible, the subject should also be given the opportunity to ask questions of the experimenter without having to make a special appointment to do so.

At the beginning of the term, investigators and instructors who plan to use the pool that term should notify the SPC of their anticipated need. This information will be helpful in making a preliminary allocation of expected subject hours. High demand for the subject pool may require that certain projects receive higher priority than others. Highest priority will be given to laboratory courses, undergraduate independent study projects, and graduate students who need subjects to complete a 699 or dissertation. Priority will also be given to experimenters who do not have funding with which to pay subjects and, to encourage early notification of expected need, proposals submitted early in the term.  Individuals whose primary affiliation is outside of the psychology department may apply for hours, but will have lowest priority for allocation.

Researchers who have resources available to pay participants are strongly encouraged to do so rather than using the subject pool. In general, students should not receive both payment and subject pool credit for their participation; this is unfair to researchers (particularly undergraduates) who do not have funds available to pay participants.  If students are expected to complete some part of their participation after the semester has ended, or if the possibility of a financial prize is an essential part of the study, exceptions may be made to this guideline.

Using Experimetrix (Web-Based Participant Management System)

1.  Overview

The Psychology Department is using a Web-based system for tracking research participation. Colleges and universities are increasingly moving toward this method of managing research participation. Experimenters post studies on the Web, and students can sign up for appointments on-line. Students' credit is also tracked on-line, so students can easily find out how much credit they've earned for each course, and instructors also have an accurate participation record. The system can also automatically email students to remind them of their appointments.

The system we are using is called Momentum, by Experimetrix. You can go to their main page if you would like to learn more about the system in general. Our experiments can be reached from http://www.experimetrix.com/penn. The website http://experimetrix.com/MomentumEdoc.htm contains the documentation for experimenters. Please read it and, if appropriate, have your research assistants read it as well. It goes through how to set up experiment sessions and answers a number of frequently asked questions. Among other things, these instructions say that you will need to get an experiment number and password from your administrator. The subject pool coordinator (currently, Delphine Dahan) is the administrator.

To log on to the system, click on "experimenter area" from the main page.  Use your experiment number as the log-on.  (For example, if your experiment is Experiment 1, you would use 1 as your log-on.)  When setting up your experiment, please be sure to give detailed location information in the header, including a street address for buildings and a room number.

If you want to see how your experiment header will look to students, click on "sign up" from Penn's Experimetrix main page (www.experimetrix.com/penn).

2.  Experiment descriptions

All posted studies must list a faculty sponsor/supervisor.

Your experiment description should provide enough detail about the procedures that students can make an informed decision about whether to participate.  If your experiment has complex requirements or procedures, you can provide a link to a website in your description, and provide more detailed information at that site.

All experimenters should have an equal opportunity to recruit participants from the pool.  Therefore, descriptions should be straightforward rather than trying to be catchy.  Please do not describe studies as "fun" or as shorter than the credit time given ("quick", "10 minutes", etc.).

3. Experiment credit

Credit for experiment participation can be awarded in half or full credit units, roughly corresponding to a half-hour or hour of participation. You can go above an hour (e.g., a 1.5 credit experiment or a 2 credit experiment). If you have a very short experiment (5-10 minutes), consider finding another experimenter with a short study and combining them in a half-hour/half-credit slot. If your experiment lasts longer than a half hour but less than an hour (for example, 40-45 minutes), the higher amount of credit should be given (one hour). Please make every effort to have experiment sessions run and end on time.

Experimenters will record participation credits directly on the computer. Therefore, you will need to have a method to identify who showed up for your study, such as having students write down their experiment ID number when they come to the experiment.  Because participants have been instructed to sign in to the system using their initials and a code number (to protect anonymity), it is often easiest to print out the sign-up list and check off students by initials (and code number, if needed) as they arrive at the study.

Please record credit for students promptly after each experiment session (e.g., within 48 hours).

4. Penalties for no-shows

The new system also allows penalties to be imposed on individuals who miss experiment sessions without canceling in advance. This penalty can take the form of a "negative credit" or a debit: a student would have to participate in an additional hour of research in addition to the amount needed for extra credit.  As an experimenter, you have the option of assigning a penalty for missed session; if you do not wish to penalize the student, you may simply cancel the student from the session.

Students will receive an email confirmation and email reminder of their appointment from the system, so they have little excuse for forgetting their appointment. The penalty system is fair to participants by allowing them to cancel if a conflict or emergency arises, but it also provides motivation for them to take their commitments to the experiment appointments seriously. (Experimenters can also make sure a student is not given a debit/negative credit if the student contacts the experimenter after the session with a legitimate excuse, such as a medical emergency, etc.) It is very difficult for experimenters to schedule an appropriate number of sessions (as well as manage the time of research assistants) if students regularly fail to show up for their appointments.

Experimenters are also responsible for keeping appointments, and failure to do so could result in loss of subject pool privileges. If an experimental session cannot be run because of problems with the experimental equipment or experimenter emergency, students who have signed up (and showed up) for those sessions should be given full credit.  If a session must be cancelled in advance (before the day of the study), experimenters should contact students to explain why the session was cancelled.

5. Information for students

Information for students is available at www.psych.upenn.edu/ugrad/studinfo.html.

6. Questions?

If you have questions about the system or about the subject pool in general, please contact the subject pool coordinator, Delphine Dahan (dahan@psych.upenn.edu).

APPENDIX -- REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO SUBJECT POOL

If you would like to avail yourself of the opportunity to recruit subjects from the Subject Pool, please complete and return the following application, either a hard copy (to Dr. Dahan's mailbox, in the Solomon Laboratories Building, 3720 Walnut Sreet) or via e-mail (dahan@psych.upenn.edu). Please paste the information into the body of an email--DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS.

APPLICATION FOR ACCESS TO COURSE-REQUIREMENT SUBJECT POOL

1) Experimenter Name(s) ___________________________________

    Email address for experimenter(s): __________________________

2) Faculty Advisor _____________________________________

    Email address for faculty advisor: ________________________

3) Has the study been approved by the University's Human Subjects Committee, including method of recruitment? (Permission to use the subject pool will not be granted without this approval).

4)  Category of research (please check one):
    ____ undergraduate laboratory course
    ____ undergraduate independent study/honors thesis
    ____ graduate student degree-related research (699, dissertation)
    ____ graduate student research, not degree-related
    ____ faculty research
    ____ post-doc research
    ____ other; please describe:

5) Estimated time for participation:

    a) total

    b) for experiment

    c) for debriefing

6) Number of subjects desired for THIS semester

Make sure you include with this application:

*** a brief description of the procedure

*** the description you will use on Experimetrix

*** a debriefing sheet which will be given to the participants.  Remember that students are participating as part of their coursework, so the debriefing should serve an educational function.