Participant Pool and Sona Systems

The purpose of the Research Requirement is:

  1. to enhance the education of students in courses discussing social science methodology and human subjects research by providing them with hands-on experience as a participant in human subjects research, and
  2. to enable researchers using human subjects to collect data more efficiently.

Social Science is unique among the sciences in its ability to engage students in active, cutting-edge research.  Physics, Chemistry, and Biology do have laboratory components to their work, but it is rare that students in those courses experience novel research as it happens.  Our participant pool provides an opportunity to show Social Science methodology in action, instill excitement about the discipline, provide an occasion to imagine life as a Social science major or professional, and teach something about current research and the practice of social science. As such, all studies submitted through the participant pool will clearly define how it is related to social science to ensure the studies meet the educational goals for the participants.

Sona Systems software is used to manage the Participant Pool and the Research Requirement. This is a web based system that can be accessed from most computers with internet access (wpi.sona-systems.com).  All students will log into this system and sign up for available studies through this system.  The system will automatically keep track of credits and penalties and will calculate credit reports for you to use for grading purposes. 

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: December 02, 2008 11:27:43