Department of Psychology
Online Participant Pool Management System
Experimenter Information
Welcome to the Department of Psychology Participant Pool online management system.
This document was created to help you with accomplishing the most common activities.
For more specific help on how to use a particular page, you can find a Help link at the top
right-hand corner of the webpage that will provide you with instructions specific to the
page you are currently viewing. These Help menus include the following:
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Registering With the System
Logging Into the System
Changing Your Profile Information
Posting Experiments
Posting Experiment Sessions
Confirming Participation
Canceling Experiment Sessions
Changing Experiment Details
Changing Session Details
Experiment Ownership
Experiment Restrictions
This document contains information on the following:
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Registering with the system
Logging on to the system
Adding new experiments
Modifying experiments
a. Demographic restrictions
b. Co-owners
c. Participant restrictions
d. Prerequisite restrictions
5. Managing experiments
6. Awarding credits and/or penalties
1. Registering with the system
Registering is the first step in using the system.
To register: Go to the login page and click the link at the bottom of the page that reads
"Click here to register". When you reach the registration page, you are presented with the
fields needed for registration.
You must register as an “Experimenter”. Experimenter registrations require approval by
the Participant Pool Coordinator, so please plan ahead.
The registration interface is the same as the one for participants. As such, you only need
to fill in the following information:
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Username: May only contain letters and numbers.
Password: Must be 8 or more characters in length
Confirm Password: Must match the "New Password" field
Student ID (your 800 number): May only contain numbers and must be nine
digits in length
First Name: May only contain letters
Last Name: May only contain letters
Email: Must be in the form name@whatever.com
Phone number: May only contain numbers and must be in the form ###-#######
Once the required fields are filled in, click the "Submit" button to complete registration,
or click the "Cancel" button to cancel registration. Again, experimenter registrations
require approval by the Participant Pool Coordinator, so please plan ahead.
2. Logging on to the system
Logging in to the system is required before the system itself can be used. Prior to logging
in you must first register with the system.
To log in: First go to the login page. When you reach the login page, fill in both the
"Username" and "Password" fields with your username and password. When this
information has been entered, click the "Login" button to complete the login process and
begin using the system.
3. Adding new experiments
The Add Experiment section allows you to add a new experiment.
You can edit the name of the experiment, the abstract of the experiment (a brief
description), and the description of the experiment (a longer description). Note that you
will automatically be made the primary owner.
Upon clicking "Submit" to submit the experiment, you will be taken to a page where you
can edit additional experiment properties, such as the co-owners of the experiment,
demographic restrictions, and the primary owner.
Note: You will not be able to add sessions to this experiment until the Participant Pool
Coordinator has approved it, so please plan ahead.
4. Modifying experiments
The Modify Experiment section allows you to edit all of the details relating to an
experiment.
On the main page, you can edit the name of the experiment, the abstract of the
experiment (a brief description), the description of the experiment (a longer description),
and the primary owner of the experiment (the primary owner is the experimenter who can
add or remove co-owners.
Below is a picture showing some of the main interface elements:
Additionally, if you scroll down further, you can view or edit the following experiment
details:
4a. Demographic restrictions: The experiment's demographic restrictions, e.g.,
minimum age requirements.
The Modify Demographic Restrictions section allows you to modify an experiment's
demographic restrictions. These restrictions will subsequently be applied against
participants so that they cannot sign up for it if they do not meet the restrictions, e.g., if
the minimum age is 21, then users (who specified their date of birth) who are too young
will not be able to sign up for it.
Demographic restrictions have the following effects on users:
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Users searching for experiments will not be able to see any experiments
incompatible with his demographic restrictions.
Users who do not meet the demographic restrictions will not be able to sign up for
the experiment, e.g., if a user is viewing details for an experiment, the sign up
link will not be available to him or her.
You can also add Other Restrictions by entering any text, but these restrictions will not
automatically filter out users. Instead, users must read these other restrictions and use
their own judgment to determine if they meet the indicated requirements.
4b. Co-owners: A list of experimenters who can do everything the primary owner can do
with the exception that they cannot themselves modify the co-owners list.
If you are an experimenter, you may own experiments. There are two kinds of owners,
the primary owner of an experiment and, optionally, the co-owners of an experiment.
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The primary owner can modify all the details relating to an experiment, such as
changing the experiment name, specifying a list of prerequisite experiments that
must be completed before a participant can sign up for the experiment, and
specifying a list of experimenters who co-own the experiment. However, only the
coordinator can specify the credit value for the experiment.
The co-owners can do everything that the primary owner can do with the
exception that they cannot change the experimenters who co-own the experiment
and they cannot change the primary owner of the experiment.
If you are a coordinator or the primary owner of an experiment:
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If you want to change the primary owner of the experiment, go to the Modify
Experiment page for the experiment and click on the Primary Owner drop-down
menu, which will show you a list of experimenter's who own the experiment, and
select the experimenter you want to be the primary owner. Click "Submit" to
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apply this change. Note that after submitting these changes, you will no longer be
the primary owner of the experiment so you will not be able to change the
primary owner of the experiment after this point.
If you want to change the co-owners of the experiment, go to the Modify
Experiment page for the experiment and scroll down until you see the co-owners
link and click on it. This will take you to the Modify Experiment Co-Owners
page. Mark the checkboxes next to the experimenters you want to give coownership to, and then click "Submit" to make the experimenters that you marked
co-owners.
The user interface provides the following options:
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Each row in the table below the Keywords search interface corresponds to an
experimenter. The User column shows the experimenter's first and last name, with
username in parentheses (clicking on the username will take you to a screen
where you can view the user's public profile). The email column shows the
experimenter's email address. The Select column shows a checkbox; checking it
will mark that user as a co-owner of the experiment. By default, only the actual
co-owners of the experiment will have the checkbox under the Select column
marked. You can add and remove co-owners by checking the checkbox for the
indicated experimenters. So far, you have only marked experimenters as coowners, you have not actually made them co-owners. Hitting the Submit button
will then make the marked users the only co-owners of the experiment. Hitting
Cancel will abort any changes that you made.
Keywords: Only show experimenters matching any of these keywords in the
experimenter's name, username, or email. If you want to search for an exact
phrase, surround the phrase in quotes, e.g., entering "john doe" WITH the quotes
will show matches for the exact phrase "john doe". On the other hand, entering
"john doe" WITHOUT the quotes will find matches of "john" or "doe". NOTE:
You must click on the Search button to actually do the search. Also, the Reset
button will go back to the state that it was in when you first came to the page,
having check marks next to only the actual co-owners.
Users To Add: Enter a comma separated list of usernames or SID numbers to
add mark those users as co-owners. For example, if you enter "bobS, benj,
800212442" and click Add, the users with usernames "bobS" and "benj" will be
marked, and the user with SID number "800212442" will also be marked. Note
that if you enter a mix of valid and invalid usernames and SID numbers, it will
simply add the users corresponding to the valid usernames and SID numbers.
4c. Participant restrictions: The list of participants blacklisted (only these users cannot
participant) or white-listed (only these users can participant).
The Modify Experiment Participant Restrictions section allows you to specify whitelists
or blacklists for an experiment. A whitelist is a list of participants who are allowed in the
experiment, such that a user must be in this list to be able to sign up for it. A blacklist is
a list of participants who are denied (not allowed) in the experiment, such that a user
must not be in this list to be able to sign up for it. To specify a blacklist, select the users
you want to deny for the experiment, change the Restriction mode to "Deny", and click
submit. To specify a whitelist, select the users you want to allow for this experiment,
change the Restriction mode to "Allow", and click submit.
The user interface provides the following options:
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Each row in the table below the Keywords search interface corresponds to a
user/participant. The User column shows the user's first and last name, with
username in parentheses (clicking on the username will take you to a screen
where you can view the user's public profile). The email column shows the user's
email address. The Select column shows a checkbox; checking it will mark that
user so that he or she is included in the whitelist or blacklist for the experiment.
By default, only the current users in the whitelist or blacklist will have the
checkbox under the Select column marked. You can add and remove users to the
whitelist or blacklist by checking the checkbox for the indicated users (and then
clicking submit). If you want to cancel any changes you made on this interface,
hit the Cancel button.
Keywords: Only show users matching any of these keywords in the user's name,
username, or email. If you want to search for an exact phrase, surround the
phrase in quotes, e.g., entering "john doe" WITH the quotes will show matches
for the exact phrase "john doe". On the other hand, entering "john doe"
WITHOUT the quotes will find matches of "john" or "doe". NOTE: You must
click on the Search button to actually do the search. Also, the Reset button will
go back to the state that it was in when you first came to the page, having check
marks next to only the actual users in the whitelist or blacklist.
Users To Add: Enter a comma separated list of usernames or SID numbers to
mark those users. For example, if you enter "bobS, benj, 800212442" and click
Add, the users with usernames "bobS" and "benj" will be marked, and the user
with SID number "800212442" will also be marked. Note that if you enter a mix
of valid and invalid usernames and SID numbers, it will simply mark the users
corresponding to the valid usernames and SID numbers and ignore the invalid
entries.
4d. Prerequisite restrictions: The list of prerequisite experiments that a user must
complete before being allowed to sign up for an experiment.
The Modify Experiment Prerequisite section allows you to modify an experiment's
prerequisite experiment requirements. Before participants can sign up for the
experiment, they must have already completed all of the prerequisite experiments
specified for it.
The user interface provides the following options:
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Each row in the table below the Keywords search interface corresponds to an
experiment. The Name column shows the experiment's name as a link to its
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details view screen. The Primary Owner column shows the primary owner of the
experiment as a link to his/her user profile. The abstract column shows a bit of
the abstract for the experiment. The Select column shows a checkbox; checking it
will mark that experiment as a prerequisite. By default, only the actual
prerequisite experiments will have the checkbox under the Select column marked.
You can add and remove prerequisites by checking the checkbox for the indicated
experiment. So far, you have only marked experiments as prerequisites, you have
not actually made them prerequisites. Hitting the Submit button will then make
the marked experiments the only prerequisites of the experiment. Hitting Cancel
will abort any changes that you made.
Keywords: Only show experiments matching any of these keywords in the
experiment's name, abstract, or description. NOTE: If you want to search for an
exact phrase, surround the phrase in quotes, e.g., entering "attitudes and
perceptions" WITH the quotes will show all matches for that exact phrase. On the
other hand, entering "attitudes and perceptions" WITHOUT the quotes will show
all matches of "attitudes", "perceptions", and "and". NOTE: You must click on
the Search button to actually do the search. Also, the Reset button will clear
everything back to the original state, e.g., if you checked experiments in the list as
prerequisites, clicking the reset button will clear any check marks that you made
since the last submission.
5. Managing experiments
The My Experiments section provides an interface for showing the experiments that you
own. On the top of the page, you can add a new experiment.
Immediately below that is the search interface, which allows you to show only those
experiments matching all of the keywords that you enter. To do a search, enter your
search terms, e.g., "attitudes and perception", and then click "Show My Matching
Experiments". If you want to show all of your experiments, click "Show All My
Experiments".
Each experiment can provide you with any of the following options: edit the
experiment's details, add sessions, or view your sessions.
Adding sessions
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Once your experiment has been approved by the Participant Pool Coordinator,
you can then add sessions.
In order to conduct an experiment you need to schedule one or more times and
places where the experiment will be conducted. A time and place where an
experiment will be conducted is known as an experiment Session. The Add
Session page will allow you to specify a time and place to conduct a selected
experiment, as well as set the maximum number of Participants who can join the
experiment at that time and place.
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If you want to make multiple consecutive sessions then enter the number of
consecutive sessions you want to schedule in the text field labeled as such. The
first session will start at the date/time you specify, all additional sessions will start
at the end of the one before. Session length is derived from the credit worth of the
experiment. Remember that your session will not be added until you hit
“Submit”.
If you have made a mistake in setting up a session you can correct this mistake by doing
the following. Go to "Schedule". Find the day of the session you want to change and
click on the sessions link. You should then be presented with a list of all sessions on that
day. Look for the offending session and click on the "Details" link. Read the "Sessions
Details" help for more information.
Viewing your sessions
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The monthly schedule view shows you all of your sessions in a familiar calendar
format. Any day that has sessions that you have scheduled will show up in the
calendar with a link telling you the number of sessions for that day, and another
link showing how many people have signed up (active). Clicking on the Sessions
link will take you to the daily schedule view for that day. Clicking on the active
link will take you to the participation view were you can easily manage the
participants who are attending your sessions (canceling or changing their
participation status).
Each experiment is shown under one of the following categories:
 Upcoming Experiments
 Previous Experiments
 Experiments Without Sessions
Additionally, if an experiment has a session that is currently active, it will be shown at
the top of the page under Active Experiments.
Active Experiments: This section shows any experiments with sessions that are
happening NOW. Each active experiment shows start and end time, the remaining
minutes left for it, how many people have signed up for it, and the location where it is
being held. This section is sorted chronologically.
Upcoming Experiments: This section shows any experiments with one or more future
sessions. Each upcoming experiment shows when the next upcoming session is
scheduled, the location for the next session, and the total number of upcoming sessions
scheduled for it. NOTE: This category is sorted chronologically, showing experiments
with the next earliest session on top.
Previous Experiments: This section shows any experiments with past sessions but no
upcoming sessions. Each past experiment shows the last time it was scheduled. NOTE:
This category is sorted chronologically, showing experiments with the most recent
sessions on top.
Sessions Without Experiments: Show any of the remaining experiments that have no
sessions associated with it. This is where newly added Experiments will initially appear
until you have added sessions for it. This category is sorted by experiment name.
Canceling sessions
If you find that you have scheduled an experiment but for what ever reason you will not
be able to attend then you can cancel your session. To do this, simply go to "Schedule".
Find the day of the session you want to cancel and click on the Sessions link. You should
then be presented with a list of all sessions on that day. Look for the offending session
and click on the "cancel" link in the status column.
NOTE: Canceling a session where people are signed up will automatically cancel those
participations. You MUST email all people who have signed up before you cancel their
session.
Below is a picture showing some of the main interface elements:
6. Awarding credits and/or penalties
The Confirmations section allows an experimenter to confirm whether a participant
participated in a scheduled session. This screen only shows participation confirmations
for sessions which have already happened for unconfirmed participants, so the
experimenter will not be bothered with confirmations for sessions that have not happened
yet. To confirm that a user participated, click on the "Confirm" link next to his or her
username. This will award credit to that participant, and that credit will be automatically
added to his/her running total of credits.
Note: This will be the first page an experimenter sees upon logging into the system if
there are confirmations pending.
Federal guidelines actually preclude, i.e., don’t allow, experimenters from assigning
penalties to students, in the sense that failure to participate in a scheduled session will
result in credit(s) being deducted from their running total. Although this was how
penalties were handled in the past, we can no longer penalize students, i.e., deduct
credits, for being “no shows” or for failing to cancel their participation in a scheduled
session. Instead, as explained below, “no shows” will be penalized such that they will
not be able to sign back up for studies for which they were “no shows”.
If a student who is signed up for a session fails to show up to participate (or fails to
cancel in advance), simply DO NOT hit the “confirm” button next to their name for that
session. Even more importantly, DO NOT click on the “Deny” button or the “Cancel”
button.
Again, DO NOT click on the “Deny” button for students who did not participate.
Throughout the semester, each time you log on as an experimenter you will be prompted
to award credits/penalties for past sessions. Essentially, for past sessions which had ‘no
shows’, simply ignore the “Pending confirmation” section of the screen. Leaving the
status of ‘no shows’ as “Pending confirmation” means that students will not receive
credit for that study, and it will also prevent that student from signing back up for that
study at a later date.
(The software program was originally written to deduct credits from students’ running
totals if the “Deny” button was hit—our department was only made aware that this
violates federal guidelines after the current system went online. It is a software issue that
will be corrected in future semesters).
Also, DO NOT click on the “Cancel” button for students who did not participate and/or
who failed to cancel.
If a student contacted you within 24 hours prior to the start of the study to cancel his/her
participation, you will need to click the “Cancel” button. This effectively erases this
student’s attempt to sign up for the study. The student will not receive credit, nor a
penalty, and he/she will be allowed to sign back up for the study at a later date. Be sure
to NOT click the “Cancel” button for true “no shows”, as that would allow them to sign
back up for the study at a later date.