Introduction

First, second and third year students must take part in the School’s Student Research Participation system in which they participate in research run by staff members, postgraduates and final year students. This is to help you learn about research and will benefit you in your honours year.

The Requirement

Your contribution to the Student Research Participation (StReP) system will be practically managed via the Research, Methods and Analysis (RMA) courses which run throughout your degree. During both Semesters you will be required to contribute notionally four hours of your time and you must do this by Friday on Week 12. This participation time should be equally divided between the two semesters, i.e. 2 hours (= 4 credits) during Semester 1 and 2 hours (= 4 credits) during Semester 2.

Students who fail to complete the StReP requirement (or alternative work) by the deadline will have five marks deducted from their RMA assessment, i.e., a mean mark of 55 will become 50.

StReP is given out in terms of ‘credits’, with each credit worth 30 minutes. You will receive one credit for each 30 minutes (or part thereof) of research time you complete (Please note, there are also half-credits, i.e. for a study that lasts for any time between 0 – 15mins 0.5 credits should be given, for studies that last between 16-30mins 1 credit should be given e.t.c.).

The StReP system is managed via web-based software. This is the only way in which you will be able to sign up to participate in research and receive credit for participation. Early in the semester you will be signed up automatically in the system, which in turn will generate a password that will be emailed to you. Once you have this password you can log on to the system by clicking here or by following the link in each of your RMA courses.

Note, you can only participate to studies in the campus you currently study. If you transfer to another campus, you must contact the local Psychology Technical Support to add you to the local StReP database – see below for contact details.

Study Sign Up

Login to StReP and click on “View Available Studies”. You will be taken to a list of all the studies for which you can sign up. As part of this list you will see a short summary of each study, how many 30 minute credits you would be awarded if you took part, and whether there are any restrictions on who can sign up (e.g. a researcher may only wish to recruit participants who are right-handed. Please note that you will be held responsible if you sign up for a study for which you are not eligible).

If there is a note in the left-hand column saying ‘Timeslots Available’ then that means you can sign up for the study. You should then click on the name of the study to find out more about it. If you would like to sign up then click on either the name of the study or the ‘Timeslots available’ links and then click on the link that says ‘View time slots for this study’. For online studies you just need to sign up and participate by the deadline. For Lab-based studies it will bring up a list of all the times available. When you see a timeslot that suits you just click on the link saying ‘Sign up’. Note down the time and location the study takes place as well as the email address of the researcher. You can cancel up to 24 hours prior to time of your session by using the ‘My schedule and credits’ option (see below).

For online studies you will get your credit(s) automatically immediately after completing the study in full. If you disagreed in the consent form or you stopped at any point and you did not continue with the study then no credits will be given.

For lab-based studies the researcher will manually grant you the credit(s) if you completed the study. If your credits have not been allocated within a reasonable time period, e.g., five days; please contact the researcher to ensure you are properly rewarded for your contribution. Please note that if you do not attend your session the researcher will probably fine you the same number of StReP credits that you would have received had you done the research. So if you fail to attend a session for which you would have received 2 x 30 minute credits you will then have to complete the basic StReP requirement plus another 2 x 30 minutes worth. Note also that some experiments will involve on-line questionnaires that you complete immediately.

My schedule and credits

Click on the link if you would like to view the experiments you have signed up for. You can also use this option to cancel up to 24 hours prior to the research beginning, or to see how much credit you have gained and how much you still need to gain. When you click on the link you will see a list of the studies you have already taken part in (and if so whether you have been awarded credit yet for it, or been penalised for failure to attend) and also a list of the studies you have signed up for: if you would like to cancel click on the ‘cancel’ button up to 24 hours before the study and then click on the ‘Yes I want to cancel’ button. If it is less than 24 hours before your session and you still wish to cancel then contact the researcher directly BUT please note that, depending on the circumstances, the researcher may nonetheless penalise you.

My profile

Click on this option if you would like to change your password, or optional phone number.

Other Stuff

Note that you must pass the coursework elements of RMA in order to progress, and so it is very important that you participate in the StReP system or undertake the alternative work. Students who fail to complete the StReP requirement (or alternative work) by the deadline will have five marks deducted from the coursework element of their RMA course for that semester, such that, e.g. a final coursework mean mark of 55 will become 50.