SONA SYS

TEMS

RESEARCHER WALK

-THROUGH

OVERVIEW

Founded in 2002, Sona Systems enables universities to manage research and recruit participants in a cloud-based environment.

OVERVIEW AT SFAPSY 133 each require 4 hours. Other classes offer extra credit (mostly upper division

psychology & kynesiology)

Each psychology lab gets about 750 hours for the semester to share.

Sometimes at the end of the quarter, can bump this up. Do not rely on this! Some quarters, this is not available!

Fall semester is best time…most students, most timeslots available. Summer Semester terrible- no students, nobody comes close to using 750 hours.

We also can have a Paid Subject Pool- no limitations for hours. Your for-credit Sona account will work for paid participants or children.

GETTING STARTEDTo get a Sona Systems log-on, email me Dr. Luis

Aguerrevere aguerrevle@sfasu.edu

Be sure to specify your position, and what you would like your user ID to be.

You can change your password the first time you log into the system.

If you do not have a department username & password (or have forgotten your password), contact DSS IT services. You will need this for the prescreening.

SONA systems link:https://sfasuhumanservices.sona-systems.com

LOGGING IN

Once the Research Sign-up system has emailed your login information

SONA SYSTEMS MAIN PAGE

CREATING A STUDY

There are 2 basic categories of studies: in-person/standard and online.

Standard studies can be 1 or 2 parts. If you have more than 2 parts, or want one part to be

online and the other part to be standard, email me and we’ll work something out.

Online studies CAN be hosted by Sona but it’s not highly recommended. Instead, you can simply link to an external website.

We have a free Qualtrics account from ORSP for online research

ALL STUDIES: BASIC INFORMATION

The study must contain NO information as to the purpose or nature of the experiment.

The only information that can be provided are length, amount of credits, location, and eligibility requirements.

ALL STUDIES: BASIC INFORMATION

30 hour = 1 credit Traveling to the CNS or CMB earns .5 credits worth of

“travel time.” Round up to the nearest .5 interval. You cannot state

that the experiment will take less time than is posted (e.g., “This 30 credit study will take less than 1/2 hour).

You are not permitted to give students less credits than advertised. If your experiment runs long, you must credit them for this extra time. See “Crediting Participants” for further instructions.

ALL STUDIES: BASIC INFORMATION

All studies must have a valid IRB code and expiration date.

Only the SP coordinator can set a study to “approved.” Be sure to click the link that submits your request for

approval. If your study has not been approved within 48 hours, the

request likely did not go through. Simply email the SP coordinator directly at this point.

When a study is renewed, be sure to email the SP coordinator asking them to update the expiration date.

NOTE: Researchers can set studies to “Active” vs. “Inactive” at any time.

ALL STUDIES: ADVANCED SETTINGS

You can filter out students who have or have not taken related studies.

If you want to sync data from the departmental prescreening survey to your own data, set DSUR[#] as a prerequisite.

To keep track of whether studies should be disqualifiers or prerequisites, your lab and related labs may wish to utilize the “Comments” section. “Shared Comments” are visible to all researchers and PIs, even if they aren’t part of your study. “Private Comments” are visible only to those who are part of the specific study.

ALL STUDIES: ADVANCED SETTINGS

Invitations codes let you restrict access to your study. e.g., students who meet a specific demographic profile in the

departmental prescreening. Your study will be visible to all students; only those with the

code will be able to sign up.

The default participant sign-up deadline is 24 hours. Shorter deadlines enable last-minute sign-ups, longer deadlines let researchers plan ahead.

ALL STUDIES: PRESCREEN RESTRICTIONSUnder Study Information, there is a section called

Prescreen Restrictions.

This link will bring you to a page that contains this information:

ALL STUDIES: PRESCREEN RESTRICTIONSThe top of the page shows your current restrictions. All studies MUST filter out students who are under 18.

Below this are other optional demographics questions (e.g., gender, native language ability) as well as their responses to select departmental prescreening scales (see the document “Prescreening Participants” for more information.)

You can select as many prescreening criteria as you’d like.

Again, your study will ONLY be visible to those who meet your prescreening criteria.

ALL STUDIES: PRESCREEN RESTRICTIONS

If you are looking for a specific population (NOT just those over 18), you can use the prescreen to invite qualified participants to take part in your study.

You are restricted to contacting 100 people, so you will probably need to email a random percentage of eligible participants.

The message may contain only the following information: “This is a special message regarding the study COO1. The researcher is

[generated by Sona]. You are eligible for this study. At the moment, there are approximately [generated by Sona] open timeslots for this study. Please log into Sona Systems to sign up for [Study Name].”

NOTE: Do not abuse this option. This is for if recruitment of a specific population is going too slowly. Please do not use it more than every 2 weeks, or else we will need to disable it for everyone.

ALL STUDIES: CREDITING STUDENTS

Credit students promptly! If it’s more than 48 hours, they’ll start to get antsy.

If they never show…Unexcused absence. If they get 3+, they can’t do any more studies.If they email you, or are late…Excused

absence.They can then sign up for the study again.If they email you AHEAD of time, CancelThey can’t cancel within 24 hours. This way, they can sign up again.

Online study: If they sign up and never take it, it’s up to you.

ALL STUDIES: CANCELING TIMESLOTSThey have to cancel with more than

24 hours notice.

If cancel with LESS than 24 hours notice, do NOT cancel their timeslots.

Email them all letting them know they don’t need to sign up, and grant them all FULL CREDIT.

RESEARCH SIG

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INTRODUCTION

Easily:Sign up for StudiesTrack your progressAccess the system

GETTING STARTED

https://sfasuhumanservices.sona-systems.comClick “Research Sign-up System”

User Id = Net Id

johndoe@iastate.edu

Password is emailed to you from the Research Sign-up System

FORGET OR LOST PASSWORD

LOGGING IN

Once the Research Sign-up system has emailed your login information

CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD

Click on Profile

RESEARCH STUDIES

You may sign up for studies that interest you!

Cancel a sign up until 2 hours before

Before signing up, check the study description for: Completion time requirements Eligibility Requirements

VIEWING STUDIES

Click “Studies” from the top toolbar

VIEWING STUDIES

You will see a list of studies in random order

The list has:Brief description of each study

Special requirements

VIEWING STUDIES

Studies with available participation timeslots will reflect “TIMESLOTS AVAILABLE”

SIGNING UP FOR STUDIES

Find a study you like

Click on study nameYou will be shown a list of eligibility requirements (e.g., “Right-handed people only”) & researcher contact information

Some studies require a Special Password – this is given to you by the researcher (i.e., it is different than your Login password)

SIGNING UP FOR STUDIES

Once you have determined that you meet all the requirements, click on View Timeslots for This Study.

SIGNING UP FOR STUDIES

You will see a list of available timeslotsChoose a timeslot that is convenient for you and click “Sign Up”

DIFFERENT TYPES OF STUDIES

One TimeMost typical type of study

Two-PartMust sign up for both partsTake note of the number of days separating the two parts

Online Survey Will be asked to complete immediately

CANCELING A SIGN-UP

Click “My Schedule & Credits”You will see a listing of the studies you have signed up for and those that you completed

Click the cancel button next to the study you have signed up for No cancellations within 2 hours of scheduled participation

TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS

Click “My Schedule/Credits”You will see how many credits

you have already earned and number of credits required for the class

REASSIGNING CREDITS

If you belong to multiple coursesYou may move credits between coursesTo do this, simply use the Reassign link that appears when you view your progress. This link appears under the course entry for each item in your progress listing.

LOGGING OUT

When you are finished using the system make sure to log out

If you are leaving the machine, also make sure to close all the browser windows that are currently open

NOTE AVAILABLE RESOURCES

May be found on the Department of Human Services website by

clicking: Research Participation > Participant

This PowerPointUsing the sign-up system (.pdf)Frequently Asked Questions