Welcome to the MSB Student Subject Pool.
You are receiving this notice because you are enrolled in one of four MSB Undergraduate classes
(Marketing 220, 221, 222 or Management 201) that require participation in the Student Subject Pool
(SSP). The SSP is used by researchers at Georgetown to conduct behavioral research for academic
purposes, it is vital for faculty researchers.
You will participate in 3 one hour research sessions per class you are enrolled in. If you are in one class
that requires research participation, you will sign up once for session 1, once for session 2, and once for
session 3. If you are in two classes that require participation, you will sign up twice for session 1, twice
for session 2, and twice for session 3. Each session will consist of anonymous surveys and experiments.
Sessions will be completed in the Behavioral Research Lab, Room 430 in the Hariri building.
Sessions will be hosted for 2 weeks at three points during the semester. SESSION 1: September 29th –
October 10th, SESSION 2: October 20th – October 31st , and SESSION 3: November 10th – November 21st.
Sona Systems – You will sign up to participate during specific time slots through Sona Systems
(http://msb.sona-systems.com/). It provides a list of times you can participate and tracks your
participation. An account was created for you and your login information was emailed to you. Your login
ID will be your netID, and your password will be a randomly generated code.
PLEASE NOTE – You will have to complete a short pre-screen form prior to signing up for time-slots.
Sona will prompt you to do this.
Alternative Assignments – If you cannot (or chose not to participate in the research studies) you will
have to complete an alternative assignment for each 1 hour session you miss. You will sign-up for and
retrieve these sessions through Sona-Systems.
Credit – You will receive credit toward your final grade for completing the research sessions (or
alternative assignments). Please see your class syllabus for an explanation of how research participation
is factored into your grade.
Attention Filters – Each survey contains attention filters to monitor how closely you are following
directions and paying attention. These are questions that are easy to answer correctly if you have read
the instructions and hard to answer correctly if you have not. To ensure high quality responses from
participants, if you answer 80% or more of the attention filters correctly over the course the semester
you will be entered into a raffle that awards two winners $250 each. However, if you answer 50% or
fewer of the attention filters correctly during any individual session, you will not receive credit for that
session. If this occurs, you will have to complete the alternative assignment to receive credit for that
week.
You will receive periodic announcements from Sona Systems regarding when you can sign up for studies,
when your participation has been approved, etc.
Please Email Questions to Chris Hydock -- msblabresearch@gmail.com --Include your Name, NetID, and
Professor.
General Session Rules:
Be thoughtful with your responses and don’t rush, the research is very important.
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You must attend at the times that you sign up for. You will not receive credit if you attend
the wrong session. You should only participate once per session per class.
In the case that you are in two classes that require participation, you must participate twice
in each session. However, you cannot participate in back-back timeslots.
You cannot start late. Five minutes after the start time, the door will be closed and no
further admittance will be allowed. NO EXCEPTIONS.
No noise or distractions – Please turn off your cell phones or other devices. If you are
caught talking or using your device you will be asked to leave without receiving credit.
Pay attention to all questions and instructions – remember you will not receive credit if you
incorrectly answer attention filters and you will only be entered into the $250 raffle if you
respond correctly to them. An attention filter is a question which has a single correct
answer.
When you are told you will be watching a video or listening to audio, put on the
headphones at your station and ensure they are at a proper volume.
When you are finished, make sure you are logged out of the web interface (leave the
computer logged in), and then you may quietly use the internet, but do not distract those
participation. You will not be allowed to leave until the 1 hour study time is complete. For
example, if the study began at 12:15, you will not be able to leave until 1:15.
Your participation will be approved on Sona Systems within a week of the last Friday of the
session. You will be notified by email if you did not receive credit due to failing attention
filters.
At the end of the hour a raffle will occur as a participation award. One student from the
current session will be randomly selected; the prize is equal to the number of students in
the current session. I.e., if there are 15 students in the Lab for a given time slot, the prize is
$15.