Please read below to learn more about the Psychology/Neuroscience Participation Pool at Bates College. If your question isn’t listed, email Brian Pfohl (bpfohl@bates.edu) to learn more!

For everyone

What is the participation pool?

Students in certain psychology and neuroscience courses are considered part of the participation pool.  These students will receive participation credit for participating in department-approved studies.  Classes such as Introduction to Psychology (PSYC101) and Introduction to Neuroscience (NSPY160) are usually included, but others may be as well at the instructor’s discretion.  If you aren’t sure whether your course is part of the pool, check your syllabus or ask your instructor.

What kind of projects are there to participate in?

There are two general categories of projects: online studies and lab studies.

• Online studies are completed entirely online.  Each project listing will have a link that goes directly to the study, which you can do at any time.
• Lab studies have at least a portion of the study that needs to be done in person.  Each project listing will have a calendar link so that you can arrange a time and place to meet with the experimenter.

Who is conducting the research?

Almost all of the projects are either senior thesis data collection by psych and neuro seniors, or faculty research by psych or neuro faculty members (often aided by student research assistants).

How much participation credit are studies worth?

A study’s value in participation credits is based on the average amount of time that is asked of participants.  For online studies, a one-hour study is worth one credit.  This can be divided into 15-minute increments, so a 15-minute (or less) study would be worth 0.25 credits, a half-hour study is worth 0.5 credits, and so on.  For lab studies, the credit amount is doubled compared to online studies.  A one-hour lab study is worth two credits.

Where can I see a list of the currently approved studies?

Right here!

For students in the pool

How does participation credit count in students’ grades?

That depends entirely on the instructor of the course. Some courses require a certain number of participation credits as part of the grade.  Others offer extra credit for participating in projects.  If you are in the participation pool, check your syllabus or ask your instructor

What else do I need to know about signing up for studies?

There are guidelines about study eligibility and other important rules on our sign up page here.

For student researchers

Who is eligible to use the pool for data collection?

With very few exceptions, you need to be a psych or neuro senior thesis student to recruit participants from the pool.

What is the process for applying so that I can use the participation pool for my lab (in-person) study?

1. Create an online appointment tracker (You don’t need to create appointments yet, but you will need the link to your tracker for step #2.)
2. Fill out this form here
3. Once your study is approved, it will immediately be posted to the list of the currently approved studies.
4. You will receive an email with your assigned experiment number and instructions for logging your participants so that they will receive credit for your study.  You will need to track their Bates email address and psych/neuro instructor for this purpose.

What is the process for applying so that I can use the participation pool for my online study?

1. Create your survey in Qualtrics and publish it.  (You can continue to edit it after you publish it.)
2. Fill out this form here
3. Once your study is approved, you will receive an email with your assigned experiment number, a codeword associated with your study, and a link to the department credit form.  You will need to add all three of these to the end of your survey.
4. Once you have made these updates to your survey, email Brian Pfohl (bpfohl@bates.edu) so that your study can be posted to the list of the currently approved studies.

I would like to offer a gift card or raffle to participants as well as use the participation pool.  How can I do this?

According to department policy, a participant cannot receive participation credit AND financial compensation (or a raffle chance) for the same study.  If you are running an in-person study, simply ask your participants which form of compensation they prefer.  For an online study, you can ask this question at the end of your survey and then use the Qualtrics “branch” feature to send people to different end-of-survey options, one for raffle people and one for credit people.  Only the credit people should see the experiment number, codeword, and link to the department credit form.  The raffle people can go to a separate survey that you create where you collect whatever information you need to contact them if they win.  There are instructions on setting up a Qualtrics branch right here.