You will come, if scheduled, for up to (but no more than) 5 hours of research participation. Most experiments last for 30 or 60 minutes, but experiments that last up to 180 minutes can scheduled. Thus, it is possible, (but not likely) that you may be scheduled for ten 30-minute studies (that's one extreme), or for one 3 hour study plus two 60-minute studies (that's the other extreme). For most students, there will be some mix of 30 and 60 minute experiments.

You will usually be chosen to participate in research on the basis of a "random draw." Hence, it might happen that your name will never be selected over the entire semester/session. If this should happen, then you are considered to have satisfied the requirement. You should know however, that it is highly likely that your name will be chosen numerous times over the semester/session.

Also, it's important for you to know that there is one experiment that every student who picks this option will do. That experiment is a 60-minute on-line survey. Early in the semester, you will receive an e-mail at your UDel email address that tells you how to complete this survey. You will be given a deadline by which to complete it. If you do not complete the survey by the deadline, it will be considered a "no-show" (see more information about "no-shows" below).

After you've entered your information into the Research Participation data base you can check for your scheduled studies by going to the Students' Home Page and logging in. As you'll see, it's a very simple matter to check your studies. However, it is essential that you do it at least once every 5 days, even including weekends. Failure to do this will result in your being moved into the readings option. Again though, it's easy. You simply go to the Students' Home Page, log in, and click the link.

It is possible that sometimes (though this is not guaranteed) you will receive emails reminding you of an experiment. However, experimenters are not required to send you such notifications. So, it is your responsibility to check your scheduled studies at the website so that you don't miss any.

There is also at least one experiment (mentioned above) that is an on-line survey. Such experiments will be listed on your schedule, but without a date or time for the appointment. This is because you will choose the time you complete the survey, within the deadline we give you. For experiments like this, you will receive e-mail instructions on how to complete it.

There is such a wide variety of experiments conducted in the Psychology Department from semester to semester that it's impossible to tell you what the studies you will be scheduled for are like. Instead, you learn what a given experiment will entail when you arrive at an experiment, before you decide to participate. The experimenter will tell you as much as he or she can about the study, so that you know what activities you will be doing in the study. The experimenter cannot tell you what the hypotheses of the study are yet, because that would bias the results.

Most of the time the initial description of the experiment will accurately indicate what it is really about. However, on occasion the experimenter will find it necessary to mislead you as to the true purpose of the study. Such deception can occur in one of two ways: (a) the experimenter may simply omit some information from the description of the study, or (b) the experimenter may misrepresent the nature of the experiment. Either of these types of deception will only occur when there is no other way for the experimenter to conduct the study in a way that provides meaningful data.

At the end of any study involving deception, it is the experimenter's obligation to describe the deception to you, and also to explain why the deception was necessary.

After hearing about the experiment, you will be asked if you want to participate in it or not. You then sign an "informed consent" form, and indicate on that form whether you have chosen to participate or not. If you choose to participate, the study will proceed. If you choose not to participate, you are free to go, but in place of the experiment your obligation will be to write one paper identical in format to the papers written by students who've chosen the Readings Option. That is, select one article from the set we have available on-line, and prepare a 1-2 page typewritten paper on it. (Click here for details.) If you agree to participate, and then somewhere into the actual experiment you decide you do not wish to participate any longer, the same thing happens (you are free to go but must write one paper instead).

Once the experiment is over, you will be given feedback as to its purpose and the hypotheses it was testing. The feedback will usually occur immediately after the experimental session. Sometimes, however, it will occur at a later time. It is the experimenter's responsibility to make sure your questions about the study get answered to your satisfaction.

If you can't attend an experiment, you must cancel it 24 hours in advance. It's easy to cancel a study, and below we show you how. However, you must understand that this is the ONLY way to cancel a study. Here's how to cancel:

     1. Go to the Students Home Page

     2. Log in

     3. Click "Study Cancellation" and follow the instructions.

Again, this is the only way to cancel a study. Some students make the mistake of believing they have officially cancelled a study just by sending an e-mail to someone. This is not an official cancellation; you must use the routine described above to cancel a study.

We operate on a good faith system. However, we also reserve the right to move a student into the readings option if we have reason to believe they are taking advantage of the system by repeatedly cancelling experiments. Also, you cannot cancel an experiment that is an on-line survey, since you yourself choose (within the deadline we give you) when you complete it.

This is referred to as being a "NO-SHOW." This is a serious problem because both other students, and the experimenters are depending on you. For the first NO-SHOW, you will be required to write one paper identical in format to the papers written by students who've chosen the Readings Option. That is, select one article from the set we have on-line, and prepare a 1-2 page typewritten paper on it. (Click here for details.)You will receive no experimental credit for the paper. All your paper does is to make up for the missed appointment. If you are a NO-SHOW and do not submit the paper, you will not have fulfilled your research requirement, and you will receive an "I."

For the second NO-SHOW two things will happen. First, you will be moved from the Research Option to the Readings Option. Second, you will have to write a paper to make up for the second NO-SHOW. And, since you're in the READINGS OPTION, you will need to write 5 papers to satisfy this requirement. That's seven papers in all. If this should strike you as a bit strict, it's because being a NO-SHOW is a totally unnecessary event. If you check the computer at the required interval (at least once every five days in fall and spring semesters, and at least once every three days in summer and winter sessions), and follow the Cancellation procedure for studies you can't make, NO-SHOWs won't happen.

We know that sometimes things happen right before an experiment that you can't control. Maybe you got a flat tire or woke up very ill. If something like this happens to you, causing you to miss an experiment that you were unable to cancel, you should e-mail the research participation requirement administrators as soon as possible and tell us what happened. The email address can be found here. Also contact us if you feel an error was made or you have other concerns not answered in this document.

We operate on a good faith system. We will believe you when you contact us. However, we also reserve the right to move a student into the readings option if we have reason to believe they are taking advantage of the system by repeatedly cancelling/missing experiments.