Sona Overview
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).
Creating your Sona account and logging in
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 for the semester, 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 research-participation@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.
Viewing available studies and signing up
When you log in, there will be a green “View Available Studies” button you can browse a list of studies. Click on the study title for a description of the study, including how long it takes, where it is, and how far in advance you must sign up for a session.
To sign up, select “Timeslots Available.” Use the green ‘View Timeslots for Study’ button at the bottom of the study information page to view all time slots available. Select your timeslot(s) and select the green ‘Sign up’ button at the bottom of the next screen. Please note the date, time, and location of your study. There are penalties for not showing up for a session. You will receive a reminder email 24 hours in advance. If a study says “invitation code required” that means a short prescreening questionnaire may need to be done or the researcher may need to contact you to determine your eligibility for the study.
If no studies that you qualify for are available, check back later. New studies will be added throughout the semester, so keep checking back for additional participation opportunities.
Age restrictions
You must be 18 years old or older to participate in research studies through Sona. If you are under the age of 18, there is an Research Participation Alternative (described below) that you can complete to earn extra credit for your course. Minors will not be able to create a Sona account. To get Sona credit, contact the Sona administrator (research-participation@uwm.edu) and 1) indicate that you are under 18, and 2) indicate what course(s) you want to earn credit for.
Research Participation Alternative
One hour of extra credit may be obtained by submitting a 300 word research report on a topic related to the course for which you wish to receive extra credit. Any combination of reports and experimental participation can be used to obtain extra credit up to the limit specified for each course. As with experimental participation, you must specify the course for which you wish to receive credit.
In order to submit reports, you must obtain a peer-reviewed, empirical research article related to the content of the course for which you would like to receive extra credit (see below), and a PDF copy of that article must be submitted with your report. This article should describe a research experiment and must come from a scientific journal (not Time, Psychology Today, Scientific American, etc. If you do not know how to find a research article, please consult the reference librarian.
Reports must be submitted electronically to the Sona coordinator
research-participation@uwm.edu. Reports must be in either PDF, DOC or RTF format. A copy of the research article you reviewed (in PDF format) must be submitted with your report. A web link to the article is not permissible. Improperly submitted reports will not be counted.
Submitting a report written by another student constitutes academic misconduct. You may not use AI tools such as ChatGPT to generate your written report.
Format for the Research Alternative
Name:
Course seeking extra credit for:
Instructor’s name:
Brief description of topic (1 sentence or less) and how it is related to what you are learning in your course:
For Psych 210 (Statistics) you will find a research article, but your task is to discuss the use of statistical tests in the article, and how the outcome of the tests determined the experimental findings. Your summary must be distinct from the article’s abstract.
For Psych 325 (Research Methods) you will find a research article (preferably one which explores research areas similar to examples you’ve encountered in class) and describe the research methodologies and the design of the study (i.e., how the hypotheses were tested) that the scientists employed. Your summary must be distinct from the article’s abstract.
For all other courses you will find a recent scientific journal article reporting research findings that are directly relevant to a topic covered in your course. Your 300 word summary must be entirely distinct from the article’s abstract; you can for example write what you learned from the article, or how the findings affect what you have learned in class.
Study cancellation and 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 note of this when you sign up. If you need to cancel, login to Sona and under My Schedule/Credits see the Study Signups section. Find the appropriate appointment on the list and select “cancel.”
If there is an urgent need to cancel after the deadline to cancel in Sona has passed, email the researcher of the study as soon as possible to explain the circumstance. This information will be reviewed and in certain cases (emergency, documented illness, etc), the No Show may be excused.
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.
Viewing your earned credits
Login to Sona and under My Schedule/Credits, will see a list of all studies you have signed up for and whether credit was granted (under “Credit Status” in the Study Signups section).
Locked out of account
If you missed at least two studies without providing proper documentation, then you were marked as an unexcused No Show for those absences and your account has been locked/disabled (see No-show policy above). While your account is locked, you will be unable to sign up for studies, although you can still take part in studies that you have already signed up for and will receive credit for any studies completed thus far. Contact the Sona Administrator (research-participation@uwm.edu) for more information.
Reassigning credits
Login to Sona and under My Schedule/Credits and Study Signups you will see which course each study’s credits were assigned to. Use the “reassign” link to transfer the credits from a particular study to a different course.
Changing your courses
To add or remove a course to your profile, select ‘My Profile’ and then ‘Change Courses.’ Be sure to select all your psychology courses offering extra credit for that semester, not just the new course you want to add.
When are credits awarded?
Credit should be awarded within 24 hours of completion of the study. Please note that for studies with multiple sessions credit may be awarded after all sessions are completed. If it has been more than 24 hours since you participated, please first email the researcher to request that your credit be recorded. You can find the researcher contact by clicking on the title of the study in your list of sign-ups. If you emailed the researcher and have not heard a response within 72 hours (e.g., 4 days since you participated) you may contact the Sona administrator (research-participation@uwm.edu).
Contacts
For questions about a particular study, contact the researcher. Their email can be found under the study descriptions in Sona.
For questions about the amount of extra credit you can earn, please see your course syllabus. If the information is not there contact your instructor.
For questions about using Sona, contact the Sona administrator (research-participation@uwm.edu).
For more extensive instructions, please review the PDF Document Sona Student Manual.