REP Policies

Deadlines

Fall 2008 REP studies can be run between September 10 and December 5.
Applications due by the first Friday of the semester (Sept 5, 2008)
Fall Semester REP points distributed by Wednesday of the second week of the semester
Mid-semester reallocation occurs around the 7th week of the semester
The following dates are the dates by which psychology undergraduate students and their instructors expect REP points to be recorded. Points MUST be recorded by the following Mondays during Fall 2008.
September 29 (for research between Sept 10 & Sept 26)
October 20 (for research between Sept 29 & Oct 17)
November 24 (for research conducted between Oct 20 & Nov 21)
December 8 (for all research between Nov 24 and Dec 5.)

Access to the REP pool:

Access to the REP participant pool is restricted to Department of Psychology faculty and adjunct faculty. Students submit research projects under Faculty sponsorship.

How points are allocated:

Points are allocated according to the following algorithm:
- First, students who are conducting research for their dissertation receive points--up to 1000 points per semester (except during summer.)
- Second, all points remaining after dissertation points have been subtracted are distributed equally among the sponsoring faculty and their projects. (Adjunct faculty receive 1/2 the allocation of Department of Psychology faculty.) If one faculty member requests fewer points than his or her allocation, his or her points will be distributed among remaining faculty requests.
- Please note that an individual researcher will not be allocated more points than faculty sponsors (which can happen when an earnest grad student has sponsorship from more than one faculty member.)

When recruiting:

In your recruiting information, please provide students with information that may affect their decision to participate in your study. If you will be asking questions of a sensitive nature, please say so.
When you have finished recruiting, please toggle your project status to "complete" so students will no longer see your project on-line.
You may not use public sign-up sheets that display student names or contact information.
When recruiting, consider the number of points as a "contract"--if a study is advertised as worth 4 points, students must be awarded the full 4 points.
If you want to see what students see, you can log in as a student on the students data base (here) using your x500 name and password. All researchers will be added to the data base.

Awarding points:

All points must be entered by the following the dates listed above under Deadlines.
Award points to students by Sunday following the week which they complete your study. Please do not wait until you have finished running your study.
Award one point per half hour of participation, rounding up. So a thirty-five minute study is worth 2 points.
If students show up for a study and the researcher does not, the student should be awarded points as if he or she had participated even if they do not complete the study at another time.
You may award a "ping" of -1 point for students who fail to show up for your study, whom you called or emailed to confirm, and who don't contact you with an explanation. (More information about the “ping” here) To be useful your confirmation email should include the following:
- Time and place of your study
- Study number and name
- Researcher name and contact information

For example, "I am just writing to confirm that you are scheduled to take part in REP study number S08-001, named such and such, on Tuesday, Feb 13, in Elliott Hall N120, from 1:30-3:30 PM. The researcher for this project is Elliott Hall, hallx218@umn.edu. You can also reach the researcher at 612-625-1010. Thanks!"

Record keeping:

Please, keep a log (paper or in Excel) for all students who participate in your study with the following information:
- student name
- ID
- the date on which they participated
- the Psychology class in which they are registered.
This log is your record of participation in case a student reports a gap in REP points or in case a student ID is incorrect. In case of missing or incorrect student names, we may ask you to doublecheck names and ID numbers.
If you enter an ID in the REP system and no name is automatically assigned to it, please contact the REP administrator with the student's name and Psychology class for a look-up.
Students come to the Psychology 1001 coordinator with complaints about the REP system. She may contact you to resolve issues.

Online Administered Studies

It has become increasingly common for research to occur via the internet using webVista, surveymonkey or other software program. On-line studies have created a special problems. The first has to do with obtaining student names, IDs and consent to award points. The second has to do with technical problems arising from browser limitations. The third has to do with students who withdraw from a study without completing it.
Occasionally, online studies involve very long questionnaires or require students to complete multiple questionnaires. Students have been known to log into a website, answer a few questions and then something happens. Either the student seems to withdraw quickly, without completing the questionnaire, or seems to blow through a complicated study so quickly that it seems impossible that the student has given any thought to their answers.
PLEASE, PLEASE, on-line researchers, do NOT assume that students are trying to scam you or cheat you or email them to accuse them of trying to scam or cheat you. The participants in the REP program are volunteers, and they are not obliged to participate or complete your study. Please avoid the fundamental attribution error, and start with the assumption that the situation is affecting their behavior--that is, that something technical or something about the design of your study (its length or complexity) is discouraging participation.
Set reasonable expectations during the consent process: students can withdraw at any time, but need to spend at least 1/2 hour on-line (or whatever seems a reasonable minimum) and answer X items (whatever seems reasonable) to earn one point. (The first stipulation is to prevent students just logging in and responding T to all of your questions without thinking about it. The second it to prevent students from logging in and leaving the computer on for 1/2 hour while they go off and chat with a friend.)