Overview
Participating in real research studies is a valuable way to learn about and experience some of the concepts that we are learning about in class. This assignment is worth 10 points (5 points for the sona credits and 5 points for the questions).
This is the first of two SONA Research Participation Assignments that you will complete this semester (the second one, Part II, is due at the end of the semester). You will complete 2 SONA credits for this assignment and 2 SONA credits for the second one, for a total of 4 SONA credits over the whole semester.
For this assignment, you will need to participate in at least 2 SONA credits (2.5 course points per 1 SONA credit). In addition, you will get 5 points for answering the question in step 2 (below). If you participate in two SONA studies (each worth one SONA credit), you may choose one of them to write about below.
Note: you can get extra credit for participating in more than the 4 required SONA credits! If you do more than the 4 required credits at the end of the semester (2 for this assignment and 2 for your second required assignment), you'll get extra credit for them at the end of the semester (up to 10 points for an additional 4 SONA credits---2.5 extra credit points per SONA credit).
Step 1: Login to SONA (FIU Sona Site) to find the studies available. Sign up to participate in at least two SONA credits (if you do more, they can count toward your second sona assignment or they can count toward extra credit). When you sign up, make sure that you choose this course with this instructor as the course you are participating for, and that you have the correct section of the course. Otherwise, we will have no way of knowing that you completed the study.
Step 2: Reflect about your experiences in the study by answering the following questions. Please refrain from sharing your experiences with other students, especially those who have not yet participated, as this could contribute to research bias. Do not email the researchers of the studies you participate in about these questions. You need to answer them on your own to the best of your ability.
- Do you think the study you participated in met ethical standards for research? Explain why or why not. (1 point).
- Why is it important for participants to be unaware of what the research study is about before participating in the study? That is, why is it important for participants to not know the study design, manipulations, and hypotheses before participating? (1 point).
- How can researchers make sure that participants don’t know anything about the study before participating? In your answer, explain at least one way that researchers can minimize this type of participant bias. (1 point).
- In Methods 2 next semester, you will learn about “replication with extension” studies, which is when researchers conduct another study after their study is over that is based on the same basic research question, but might include new variables, different (but related) research questions, or different dependent variables. After participating in this study, what do you think a good follow-up (“replication with extension”) study could be? Specify your own IVs, DVs, and hypotheses here that are related to (though different from) the study you just completed (2 points).