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Department of Psychology

Sona Systems Manual for Unpaid Subjects

Follow the below instructions for using the Vanderbilt Psychology Research Sign-Up System through Sona Systems.

Getting Started

Using a web-browser, go to: http://vanderbilt.sona-systems.com/

Note: The system works best if you use a web browser that is reasonably up-to-date.

Requesting an Account

On the left side of the main login screen, click the New User? link to request an account.

Enter your first and last name as it appears on your Vanderbilt ID card. Make sure to provide a valid email address. You can use a non-Vanderbilt email address, but your Vanderbilt email address is preferred. The telephone number is optional, but highly recommended in case of last-minute cancellations.

You should select all psychology classes in which you are currently enrolled. You can change your course selection at a later time if needed. If you would like to participate in some studies for pay, you can also select PAID as a course option. After you complete the form, you will receive an email notification immediately with your login information. You will be assigned a default password, which you can change after your first login.

Logging In

Once you have your login information, go back to the login screen at http://vanderbilt.sona-systems.com/ and enter your user ID and password to login.

Retrieving a Lost Password

If you ever forget your password, there is an option on the bottom left of the front login screen to have the password sent to the email address that you have entered in the system.

Prescreen

The first time you log in, you will be asked to participate in a prescreen that asks for information that helps to determine which studies you qualify for. The prescreen includes some questions about your health history. You may choose not to answer certain prescreen questions, but this may limit the number of studies that you can participate in.

The information from the prescreen is stored in a confidential database. In order to protect your privacy, the information is coded with a unique identifier instead of your name. The database is stored on a firewall-protected server, and the only individual who can access this information is the website administrator (who still cannot directly link a name to the pretest answer). The information is maintained in strictest confidence and is not accessible by any of the researchers, your instructors, or any other members of the Vanderbilt community. The prescreen information is only used to determine which studies you qualify for. You will only be able to see the studies that you qualify for in order to prevent you from wasting time exploring studies in which you cannot participate.

You only need to complete the prescreen once. The system is set up so that once you have saved the prescreen, you cannot modify it again during the semester, so answer the prescreen carefully. If you have questions or concerns about the prescreen, or if for some reason you feel like you need to change a prescreen response after having saved it, please contact Tiffany Auer (tiffany.auer@vanderbilt.edu).

The Main Screen

After you have completed the prescreen and acknowledged the human subjects policy, you will see a main screen that will allow you to view and sign up for studies (experiments), examine what studies you have scheduled and completed, and manage your profile on the system. This is the first screen that you will see whenever you log back into the system.

Changing Your Password and Other Information

To change your password or other personal information, choose My Profile from the top toolbar. If you would like to change your password, type your new password (twice, for confirmation) in the provided boxes. If you do not want to change your password, simply leave these boxes empty.

Signing Up for Studies

To view a list of studies, click on Studies from top toolbar or Experiment Signup from the main page. You will see a list of studies, a brief description of each study, and any special requirements that may restrict your eligibility to participate in the study. To view more information about a study, click on the name of that study.

Studies that currently have available participation times will have “TIMESLOTS AVAILABLE” listed on the left side of the screen. If no studies have available timeslots, you may want to log in to the system a few days later to see if new timeslots have been added.

To sign up for a study, click on the study name for more information. You will see a description, the number of credits or pay offered, as well as contact information.

You may also see a list of any special restrictions or eligibility requirements. Some restrictions are automatically enforced by the system. If the study has certain pre-requisites or disqualifiers (studies you must not have participated in to participate in this study), those will be listed.

The study may have other restrictions listed as Subject Restrictions. If listed, then the system does not enforce this restriction, but you should only sign up for the study if you meet these requirements. If you sign up for the study and you do not meet the restrictions, you will likely not receive credit for the study.

Once you have determined you meet all the requirements, click on View Timeslots for This Study. Remember that if a study is entitled “PAID” and/or the compensation is described as $x.xx, you will not receive credit for participation. Selecting a course other than “PAID” in the drop-down list when signing up for paid studies does NOT mean you will receive credit. Choose a timeslot that is convenient for you, and click Sign-Up.

After you click Sign-Up, you will see information displayed confirming the time and location of the study you plan to participate in. You will receive an email confirmation. You are now signed up for the study.

Some studies require a special password to sign up. If this is the case, it will be noted and the researcher will provide you with the password. It is not the same as the password you use to log in to the system. You will need to enter the special sign-up password just before you click the Sign-Up button to sign up for a timeslot.

You may only sign up for a timeslot up until a certain time before that timeslot is scheduled to occur. The system will not display a Sign-Up button for timeslots where it is too late to sign up.

Canceling a Sign-Up

If you need to cancel a timeslot for which you have signed up, choose the My Schedule/Credits option from the top toolbar. You will see listed all the studies you have signed up for, as well as those you have completed. Studies you have signed up for that you are allowed to cancel will have a Cancel button next to them.

There is a time limit (deadline) before the study is to occur, when it is too late to cancel. This restriction is listed at the bottom of the page. There is no penalty associated with canceling a study prior to the cancellation deadline. However, after the deadline, you cannot cancel the appointment through the system. It is your responsibility to directly contact the researcher if you cannot come to a scheduled study but did not cancel before the time deadline. You will be assigned a penalty of 1 research credit if you cancel after the deadline or fail to show for a study. Under extenuating circumstances, a researcher may cancel your appointment without penalizing you. However, this is only reserved for extreme circumstances, and you should assume that you will get penalized if you fail to cancel your appointment prior to the deadline.

Once you click Cancel to cancel your sign-up, you will see a confirmation page. You will also be warned if your cancellation might affect your ability to participate in other studies you have signed up for, due to pre-requisite restrictions. Click Yes to cancel your sign-up.

Multipart-Part Studies

Some studies involve multiple sessions. Depending upon the laboratory, the researcher may list these as separate studies and only allow you to sign up for the second part of the study after you have completed the first part. Other studies are set up where you must sign up for two parts of a study at once, with the two parts scheduled a certain number of days apart. These studies will be clearly marked as two-part studies. If you cancel the first part of a two-part study, the second part will also be cancelled. If you cancel the second part of a two-part study, the first part will not be cancelled, but you will need to ask the researcher to sign you up for the second part again, if you would like to complete it at a later date.

Tracking Your Progress

You may track your progress at any time by choosing the My Schedule/Credits option from the top toolbar. On this page, you will see at the top a list of the number of credits you are required to earn and how many you have earned so far. Below that, if you have signed up for any studies, those are listed. In the list of studies, you will see information about your credit status.

If you fail to appear for a study without canceling it, you will be assessed a 1 credit penalty. Penalties will be displayed in your progress, and the penalty will increase the number of credits you must earn.

Reassigning Credits

It is critical that you assign credits to the proper course. Failure to do this will prevent you from properly receiving credit. If you are enrolled in multiple courses, you may reassign a credit from one course to another. To do this, simply use the Reassign link under the course entry for each item in your progress listing.

Problems and Caveats

Fulfilling previous requirements and assigning credits to multiple courses: Credits earned within the last 24 months are maintained in the system. Since the Sona System does not provide a way to apply credits to multiple courses, you will need to print out your previous credit completion history and present that to your current instructor.

If you believe that you should have received credit for an experiment for which you did not, or if you feel you were wrongly penalized, contact the study’s researcher. There is an email link for researchers in the study description. If you are unable to resolve the problem, contact the system administrator Beth Clark.

Participants will only see and be able to sign up for studies for which they are eligible based on the following:

  • Prescreen responses
  • Course selection
  • Study restrictions
  • Available timeslots
  • Limitations due to previous unexcused failures to show for experiments

Any two participants are not likely to see the same list of studies for which they are eligible.

If the current responses to your prescreening are correct and you are seeing nothing listed in the studies page, then there are no current studies with open timeslots for which you are eligible. For instance, currently the Sona System may have no studies that have approval to work with minors (less than 18 years old). If you are required to participate in studies for which you are ineligible for a course, contact your instructor for an alternative method of earning credits.

Invitation-only studies are managed by those studies’ researchers and require an invitation code. They may contact participants directly in a number of ways; one of which is through the Sona System based on your prescreen responses. If you update your prescreening after an invitation is sent out through the Sona System, you will only see an invitation the next time researchers are soliciting participants for studies for which you are eligible.

Logging Out

For security purposes, when you are done using the system make sure to click logout at the right side of the top menu bar. This is particularly important if you are accessing the site from a public computer.