OVERVIEW
Founded in 2002, Sona Systems enables universities to
manage research and recruit participants in a cloudbased environment.
OVERVIEW AT SFA
PSY 133 each require 4 hours.
 Other classes offer extra credit (mostly upper division psychology &
kynesiology)
Each psychology lab gets about 750 hours for the semester to share.
 Sometimes at the end of the quarter, can bump this up. Do not rely on
this! Some quarters, this is not available!
Fall semester is best time…most students, most timeslots available.
Summer Semester terrible- no students, nobody comes close to
using 750 hours.
We also can have a Paid Subject Pool- no limitations for hours. Your forcredit Sona account will work for paid participants or children.
GETTING STARTED
To get a Sona Systems log-on, email me Dr. Luis Aguerrevere
aguerrevle@sfasu.edu
 Be sure to specify your position, and what you would like your user ID
to be.
 You can change your password the first time you log into the system.
If you do not have a department username & password (or have
forgotten your password), contact DSS IT services. You will need this
for the prescreening.
SONA systems link:
https://sfasuhumanservices.sona-systems.com
LOGGING IN
Once the Research Sign-up system has emailed your
login information
SONA SYSTEMS MAIN PAGE
CREATING A STUDY
There are 2 basic categories of studies: inperson/standard and online.
Standard studies can be 1 or 2 parts.
 If you have more than 2 parts, or want one part to be online and
the other part to be standard, email me and we’ll work something
out.
Online studies CAN be hosted by Sona but it’s not highly
recommended. Instead, you can simply link to an
external website.
We have a free Qualtrics account from ORSP for online
research
ALL STUDIES: BASIC INFORMATION
The study must contain NO information as to the purpose or nature
of the experiment.
 The only information that can be provided are length, amount of
credits, location, and eligibility requirements.
ALL STUDIES: BASIC INFORMATION
30 hour = 1 credit
 Traveling to the CNS or CMB earns .5 credits worth of “travel time.”
 Round up to the nearest .5 interval. You cannot state that the
experiment will take less time than is posted (e.g., “This 30 credit
study will take less than 1/2 hour).
 You are not permitted to give students less credits than advertised.
If your experiment runs long, you must credit them for this extra
time. See “Crediting Participants” for further instructions.
ALL STUDIES: BASIC INFORMATION
All studies must have a valid IRB code and expiration date.
Only the SP coordinator can set a study to “approved.”
 Be sure to click the link that submits your request for approval.
 If your study has not been approved within 48 hours, the request likely
did not go through. Simply email the SP coordinator directly at this point.
 When a study is renewed, be sure to email the SP coordinator asking
them to update the expiration date.
 NOTE: Researchers can set studies to “Active” vs. “Inactive” at any time.
ALL STUDIES: ADVANCED SETTINGS
You can filter out students who have or have not taken related
studies.
 If you want to sync data from the departmental prescreening
survey to your own data, set DSUR[#] as a prerequisite.
To keep track of whether studies should be disqualifiers or
prerequisites, your lab and related labs may wish to utilize the
“Comments” section. “Shared Comments” are visible to all
researchers and PIs, even if they aren’t part of your study.
“Private Comments” are visible only to those who are part of the
specific study.
ALL STUDIES: ADVANCED
SETTINGS
Invitations codes let you restrict access to your study.
 e.g., students who meet a specific demographic profile in the
departmental prescreening.
 Your study will be visible to all students; only those with the code will be
able to sign up.
The default participant sign-up deadline is 24 hours. Shorter deadlines
enable last-minute sign-ups, longer deadlines let researchers plan
ahead.
ALL STUDIES: PRESCREEN
RESTRICTIONS
Under Study Information, there is a section called Prescreen
Restrictions.
This link will bring you to a page that contains this information:
ALL STUDIES: PRESCREEN
RESTRICTIONS
The top of the page shows your current restrictions.
 All studies MUST filter out students who are under 18.
Below this are other optional demographics questions (e.g., gender,
native language ability) as well as their responses to select
departmental prescreening scales (see the document “Prescreening
Participants” for more information.)
 You can select as many prescreening criteria as you’d like.
Again, your study will ONLY be visible to those who meet your
prescreening criteria.
ALL STUDIES: PRESCREEN
RESTRICTIONS
If you are looking for a specific population (NOT just those over 18), you can use
the prescreen to invite qualified participants to take part in your study.
You are restricted to contacting 100 people, so you will probably need to email a
random percentage of eligible participants.
The message may contain only the following information:
 “This is a special message regarding the study COO1. The researcher is [generated by
Sona]. You are eligible for this study. At the moment, there are approximately
[generated by Sona] open timeslots for this study. Please log into Sona Systems to sign
up for [Study Name].”
NOTE: Do not abuse this option. This is for if recruitment of a specific population
is going too slowly. Please do not use it more than every 2 weeks, or else we
will need to disable it for everyone.
ALL STUDIES: CREDITING STUDENTS
Credit students promptly! If it’s more than 48 hours,
they’ll start to get antsy.
If they never show…Unexcused absence.
 If they get 3+, they can’t do any more studies.
If they email you, or are late…Excused absence.
 They can then sign up for the study again.
If they email you AHEAD of time, Cancel
 They can’t cancel within 24 hours. This way, they can sign up
again.
Online study: If they sign up and never take it, it’s up
to you.
ALL STUDIES: CANCELING
TIMESLOTS
They have to cancel with more than 24 hours
notice.
If cancel with LESS than 24 hours notice, do NOT
cancel their timeslots.
Email them all letting them know they don’t
need to sign up, and grant them all FULL
CREDIT.
INTRODUCTION
Easily:
Sign up for Studies
Track your progress
Access the system
GETTING STARTED
https://sfasuhumanservices.sona-systems.com
Click “Research Sign-up System”
User Id = Net Id
johndoe@iastate.edu
Password is emailed to you from the Research Sign-up
System
FORGET OR LOST PASSWORD
LOGGING IN
Once the Research Sign-up system has emailed your
login information
CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD
Click on Profile
RESEARCH STUDIES
You may sign up for studies that interest you!
Cancel a sign up until 2 hours before
Before signing up, check the study description for:
 Completion time requirements
 Eligibility Requirements
VIEWING STUDIES
Click “Studies” from the top toolbar
VIEWING STUDIES
You will see a list
of studies in
random order
The list has:
 Brief description of
each study
 Special
requirements
VIEWING STUDIES
Studies with
available
participation
timeslots will reflect
“TIMESLOTS
AVAILABLE”
SIGNING UP FOR STUDIES
Find a study you like
Click on study name
You will be shown a list of eligibility
requirements (e.g., “Right-handed people only”)
& researcher contact information
Some studies require a Special Password – this
is given to you by the researcher (i.e., it is
different than your Login password)
SIGNING UP FOR STUDIES
Once you have determined that you meet all the
requirements, click on View Timeslots for This
Study.
SIGNING UP FOR STUDIES
You will see a list of available timeslots
 Choose a timeslot that is convenient for you and click “Sign
Up”
DIFFERENT TYPES OF STUDIES
One Time
Most typical type of study
Two-Part
Must sign up for both parts
Take note of the number of days separating the
two parts
Online Survey
Will be asked to complete immediately
CANCELING A SIGN-UP
Click “My Schedule & Credits”
 You will see a listing of the studies you have signed up for and those
that you completed
 Click the cancel button next to the study you have signed up for
 No cancellations within 2 hours of scheduled participation
TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS
Click “My Schedule/Credits”
You will see how many credits you have
already earned and number of credits
required for the class
REASSIGNING CREDITS
If you belong to multiple courses
You may move credits between courses
To do this, simply use the Reassign link
that appears when you view your
progress. This link appears under the
course entry for each item in your
progress listing.
LOGGING OUT
When you are finished using the system make sure to
log out
If you are leaving the machine, also make sure to close
all the browser windows that are currently open
NOTE AVAILABLE RESOURCES
 May be found on the Department of Human Services website by clicking:
Research Participation > Participant
This PowerPoint
Using the sign-up system (.pdf)
Frequently Asked Questions