ISPR Student Pool: Resources for Researchers

Summer 2021 ISPR Session

June 28, 2021, 9:00 am: Opening of the ISPR for student participation

Steps to use the system each semester:

1. send a copy of your valid and up-to-date ethics certificate to [email protected] if the ISPR coordinator does not yet have a copy.
2. request activation for your study if it is deactivated.
3. create time slots for participants to sign up.

July 30, 2021: Closing of the ISPR for student participation

Studies will be deactivated by 4:00 pm on the deadline.

August 6, 2021: Deadline for downloading research data from the system for the term

If you are a researcher that needs data from the Sona website (i.e. online internal system studies), download all participation data located in the system on or before the deadline.

September 3, 2021: Deadline for the inclusion of new pre-screen questions

Please see the section below for information about how to request pre-screen changes. This date is the last day for requesting additional pre-screen questions. Please review the permanent prescreen list before requesting new items.

The use of the ISPR system is fairly straightforward for all instructors of courses that participate in the ISPR. Most of the management of student participation is handled outside of the courses themselves. Generally, the ISPR opens to students during the first or second week of courses, and closes to students on the last day of classes (the schedule is above). There are a few things that instructors need to do and know if their courses use the ISPR:

• Orientation videos. A ten minute student orientation video has been prepared which gives students a detailed introduction to the ISPR. Please play this video for your class(es) before the ISPR opens to students. This, along with the information in the general introductory course syllabus, should give enough information for most of the students to be able to navigate the ISPR with little difficulty. The video is found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_3wJK-pac0
• Course syllabus. In the general introductory syllabus, all students will receive the basic information they need to participate in ISPR activities. View the relevant section of the syllabus.
• Student ISPR grades. All instructors will receive an email containing the ISPR points of their students within one week after the last day of courses. These can then be integrated into students’ final grades.
• Student questions about the system. When students ask for further clarification about the ISPR, direct them first to their syllabus and the orientation video. The video is also directly available for students to review on their own on the main ISPR website. Students have the URL to the appropriate page in their syllabus: http://socialsciences.uottawa.ca/psychology/research/integrated-system-participation-research. If students have further questions, they should address them to: [email protected]

Important documents

Ethics procedures of the ISPR

This document outlines the procedures of the ISPR, and includes examples of the language that researchers have used in past applications.

Researcher’s technical manual

This document is a comprehensive ‘how-to’ manual on the use of the Sona website.

Best practices in participant debriefing guide

This document has been prepared for the ISPR to help all researchers to prepare better participant debriefings. This can lead to benefits to both students and researchers; students have a more educational and enjoyable research experience, while researchers can often gain higher quality research data and feedback about their studies.

Demographics of the ISPR

An overview of the demographic background of the students who act as research participants in the system

Historical review of the ISPR

An overview of the creation and growth of the ISPR system

Prescreen information

The ISPR prescreen is a battery of questions that is used to gather background information about participants, help researchers to be able to precisely target participant sub-populations, and to act as a research and evaluation tool for improving students' ISPR experiences. When a participant logs into the system for the first time, they are asked to complete the pre-screen. The pre-screen is not worth any ISPR participation points. It is mandatory, but students are allowed to opt out of answering particular questions if they so choose.

Researchers can use prescreen information in two main ways. The first is to allow collection of background and demographic information that may be pertinent to research questions (e.g., gender, maternal language). The second is to precisely target participants. Any prescreen item can be used to either include or exclude participants, allowing for recruitment of the most appropriate participants.

Adding prescreen items

Before requesting new questions, please check the list of permanent questions to see if existing prescreen questions are sufficient. You may view the list of permanent questions, as well as request new prescreen questions specific to your research, by visiting and filling out this Qualtrics survey. Please only request new questions if they are substantively different from those already present. Because efforts are being made to keep the prescreen as short as possible, only up to a couple of questions can be allowed per researcher.

For all items to be included in the prescreen, researchers may do so by following these instructions:

• Fill our this Qualtrics survey before the deadline, usually two weeks before the ISPR opens, indicating what questions you would like to add to the prescreen for that semester. If you have any questions about this process, email our team at [email protected] and we will get back to you.
• Remember that you need to add these pre-screen restrictions to your study on or after the ISPR start date to utilize pre-screen restrictions.