Participate (SONA)

Link to Sona Website

The participation deadline for Spring 2024 is 5:00 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Researchers have until 5:00 pm on Friday, May 10, 2024 to grant credit. Students have until 5:00 pm on Saturday, May 11, 2024 to re-assign credit to the appropriate course, which may be necessary if you are taking more than one course that offers Sona credit.

Student Information

PDF Document Frequently Asked Questions About Sona

The Psychology Department uses External Link Sona Experiment Management System for online research study participation. This system is available to UWM students to use for acquiring extra credit for participating psychology courses. A listing of courses offering extra credit for research participation through the Sona system is available on the experiment management system, but it is best to double-check with course instructors to confirm that their courses are accepting extra credit for participation. Instructors make the final decision to accept or decline all credits assigned to their course(s).

If you are enrolled in a class that is accepting extra credit, click on the green epanther ID log in button to sign in. When signing in for the first time, you will be required to enter some information. When entering your information, make sure to select all courses you are enrolled in that are accepting extra credit. If you do not see your courses listed, please contact bowman2@uwm.edu before creating your account. The first time you log on to the system you will be asked to complete a very brief questionnaire asking basic information such as age, gender, ethnicity, and handedness.

No-show Policy

It is very important to remember that when you sign up for a session you are making a commitment to show up for that appointment. If you need to cancel you may do so via the SONA website prior to the session. Studies vary in how much advance notice they need of cancellation (most are 24 hours) – please take not of this when you sign up. If you do not show up for a session you will lose the opportunity to earn one percent of extra credit. If you fail to show for a second session you will again lose the opportunity to earn a second percentage of extra credit and you will no longer have the opportunity to sign up for research studies to earn extra credit for your course(s). You can make up the extra credit points you lost by completing an alternative extra credit option. If you prefer not to participate in research you may also choose one of these alternative extra credit options.

For more extensive instructions, please review the PDF Document Sona Student Manual.

Instructor Information

If you would like an instructor account, please email bowman2@uwm.edu. Instructors need an account in order to download their credit reports at the end of the semester. Instructions for downloading credit reports can be found here.

If you do have an account please review the PDF Document Sona Instructor Manual prior to using the system.

Experimenter Information

Each lab will have a single Principal Investigator account (under a faculty member’s epanther ID) plus Researcher accounts for each lab member. Faculty members can request a Principal Investigator account, and pre-approved lab members may request new Researcher accounts by contacting the administrator bowman2@uwm.edu.

The PDF Document Brief Instructions for Researchers will get you started. More detailed information can be found in the PDF Document Sona Master Documentation.If you would like to use the Qualtrics Survey Tool to create a brief pre-screen that will automatically determine and inform participants of their study eligibility please read this PDF Document Qualtrics Automatic Scoring and Emailing tutorial.

If you are conducting an online survey using Qualtrics it is highly recommended that you follow PDF Document these procedures to automatically award Sona extra credit when participants complete the study.