INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS ABOUT THE
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT RESEARCH POOL REQUIREMENT
FALL 2011
All members of your General Psychology class are required to serve as participants in experiments conducted by faculty, graduate students, and honors students in the Psychology Department. This is a way for you to learn more about the nature of psychological research by observing that research first-hand. Experiment participation is not formally graded but failure to complete this requirement will result in a grade of I (incomplete) for the course.To fulfill the research pool requirement, you must participate in TWOcredit-hours of experiments during the semester.If you do not fulfill the Research Pool requirement, you will receive an incomplete in General Psychology. You can remove this incomplete by participating in experiments next semester.An Incomplete not made up within a year will revert to a grade of IF, as indicated in University policy. If you have financial aid, loans, or scholarships that are contingent upon earning a minimum number of credits this semester it is important that you avoid an incomplete, so be sure to do the requirement this semester.
HOW DO I SIGN UP?
The Psychology Department Research Pool is accessed at:
To find out which experiments are being conducted this semester, check the website. You can sign in by using your regular UMD login and password (the same you would use to check your e-mail).Please note that you will not be able to access the website until after the drop/add period, so not until the 2ndweek of classes (afterSeptember 14).
After you login to the website, you will see a menu with Available Projects List on the left. This menu will tell you which experiments are available. Click on an experiment title to see the days and times that experiments are available. If you find a time that works for you, choose it and then click ‘sign up.’
When you sign up for an experiment, please be sure to write down the time and place where that experiment will be held. When you go back to your homepage on the website, you will see a list of the experiments that you are registered for.
Some experiments are worth 2 credits and others are worth 1 credit. To fulfill the requirement, then, you will need to sign up for either 1or 2experiments. It is possible that no experiments will be posted for the first few weeks of the semester, because experimenters need some time to prepare their experiments. Don't worry. There will be enough experiments posted over the course of the semester so that everyone will have a chance to fulfill their requirement. Keep checking the website. Experiments will be posted throughout the semester. Please do not wait until the last few weeks of the semester to begin looking for experiments to sign up for.With so many students in need of hours, it is not possible for the experimenters to offer all the appointments needed in so short a time span. Students who put off this requirement often find that they are unable to meet the requirement because all the appointments have been taken.
IS THERE A PENALTY FOR NOT ATTENDING A SESSION I SIGNED UP FOR?
YES!! When you have signed up for an experiment, it is very important that you cometo that
experiment.If you discover that you cannot come to an experiment for which you signed up, you can cancel your appointment on the website up until 12 hours before the experiment would start by clicking on the experiment title in your My Projects box. If you fail to come to an experiment that you signed up for and did not cancel your appointment online12 hours in advance, you will be penalized the credit for that experiment.Exceptions will only be made if you can provide documentation from a doctor, court, or law enforcement agency. It is up to the experimenter’s discretion if your absence will be excused. If you fail to provide notification and lack sufficient documentation to satisfy the experimenter, you will have to participate in additional hours of experiments to meet your requirement. The penalty will be 1 credit.An incomplete will be awarded in the course until all penalty hours and the original 2-hour requirement are filled. So, for example, if you miss 1 experiment you will need to do 3credits of experiments to meet the 3-hour requirement (-1 + 3 = 2).
WHAT IF I DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE DOING A STUDY ONCE I AM IN THE LABORATORY?
When you arrive at an experiment you signed up for the experimenter will explain the nature of the experiment to you in more detail. If you decide, for any reason, that you prefer not to serve in that experiment, you can still get credit for serving in the experiment by reading an article related to the experiment and writing a brief paper about that article. Just ask the experimenter for the alternative assignment.
WHAT IF I WON’T BE 18 UNTIL THE END OF THE SEMESTER?
If you are under 18 years of age, you may not sign an informed consent form, so you may not participate in any experiments. If you will not be 18 until after the 11th week of classes (November 14), please email Dr. Kershaw (). After verifying your birth date in the University records she will submit a requirement exemption for you.
HOW WILL CREDIT BE REGISTERED WITH MY PROFESSOR?
After you complete an experiment the experimenter give you credit on the website.From your homepage on the website, you will see a box labeled Credit Summary that will tell you how many credits you have earned.Your credit will be processed by the experimenter within one week of the experiment, so you won’t need to submit anything yourself. However, we are all human and sometimes errors are made. For this reason, you will receive a Research Pool Participation receipt from the experimenter, showing that you participated in an experiment.* It is very important that you keep these forms until you receive your grade for General Psychology. If there is any question at the end of the semester about whether you have completed your subject pool requirement, just show these forms to Dr. Kershaw, the research pool coordinator. Only this form may be presented as evidence of participation, so be sure not to misplace it.
* A note on honesty: It is impossible to forge one of these forms because there is a unique participant number assigned to each participant in an experiment. All submitted receipts are compared to the experimenter’s master list. Anyone found submitting another student’s receipt or a forged receipt will receive a failing grade in General Psychology and will be subject to adisciplinary hearing.