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SONA

UC San Diego Sona System

General Information for Students

Experimental Subject Participation

Students enrolled in lower-division psychology courses are asked to serve as experimental subjects for three (3) hours per course. Upper-division psychology courses, as well as courses in Cognitive Science and Linguistics, may also offer Sona credits to their students. The requirement is intended to show how empirical research is conducted in the UC San Diego Psychology Department and is intended to be a positive educational supplement to the course work. Students always have the right to discontinue participation at any point in any study. Students who are unable to participate or who choose not to participate must contact their instructor for alternate assignments which are designed to serve similar educational goals.

Using Sona to Manage Your Research Participation

Sona is an online scheduling system used to record your research participation credit. You will go to the Sona website to find out what studies are being offered in a given quarter, and you will use the site to sign up for studies. The instructions below will orient you to the system. Reading all the way through will prepare you in advance for how to deal with any issues that might come up during the quarter.

Additional resources:

A note about participation: an important goal of participating is to provide a strong understanding of experimental research. As a participant, your time is as valuable as that of the researchers and PIs involved in the studies. You are making an important contribution to the research community in our department and the UC San Diego campus. All participants are expected to behave in a professional manner, show up on time and provide notice to researchers if you need to cancel your appointment. It is important for the participants to take the experiments seriously and dedicate the effort needed for the studies. You can expect all researchers and PIs to respect your time, describe the research you are contributing to, and award your credit within 24 hours.