Here, the new section of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for SONA researchers will be updated starting May 2019. Suggestions and questions are welcome and can be sent to the SONA-Team.
Information about the creation of studies and for general usage of the SONA participant pool of the Cognitive Sciences can be found in the guidelines.
The settings for compensation (paid/credit) which are fixed when a new study is created cannot be changed later! An option that both compensations are possible does not exist in SONA (but there is a workaround, see below).
In paid studies it not impossible to grant credits (VP-Stunden). If you would like to change the compensation from money to credits you need to create a new study (or use the study-copy function).
In credit studies it is possible to adjust the number of granted credits individually for each appointment. This is handy if the test session takes longer than expected or in case that the participant would like to receive money instead of credits. In the latter case set the credit to zero and enter "received money" or something similar in the comment field so that it is later traceable why no credits have been granted.
This means that if a study should offer both options you need to create it as credit study. The possibility of monetary compensation should be placed prominently in the abstract and in the study description by also highlighting it in bold (between the HTML tags <b> and </b>).
Here you enter the mean study duration in minutes rounded up to the next quarter of an hour. This means that studies for which most participants need maximally half a quarter of an hour you would enter: 15. For study that takes on average about 50 minuntes: 60.
Important! If the study is granting credits (VP-Stunden), the number of credits needs to match the duration. Since the smallest unit of credits is a quarter, this means:
Actual duration in minutes | Duration specification in SONA | Compensation |
---|---|---|
1 – 15 | 15 | 0.25 |
16 – 30 | 30 | 0.5 |
31 – 45 | 45 | 0.75 |
46 – 60 | 60 | 1 |
61 – 75 | 75 | 1.25 |
76 – 90 | 90 | 1.5 |
91 – 105 | 105 | 1.75 |
106 – 120 | 120 | 2 |
The duration of a study must not be stated with less minutes than the amount of credits indicate (even if it is true) in order to avoid an inflation of credits. It is also not allowed to advertise a study with a short duration (such as "only 50 min for 1 credit").
There are a few special features for online studies that are worth paying attention to.
Students from other institutions can participate in studies on our SONA platform for credits (VP-Stunden), for example from the MHB (Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane).
They may ask you for a written confirmation of participation. Our procedure is as follows and should be communicated to these external students as such:
University of Potsdam
SONA Participant Pool of the Cognitive Sciences
Anikó Grellmann / Building 35 / Room 1.07
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25
14476 Potsdam
E-Mail: sona-kogwis@uni-potsdam.de