Your Psychology Faculty
The initial Signup is done by the Research Coordinator. You will receive an email at your official CSUN email address with all login information.
The Participant Information Packet has step-by-step instructions with screenshots to show you how to signup for studies.
First, check the dates for when you will be enrolled. You should receive login info during the fourth week of the semester. Do not contact us if the date has not passed yet as you will be automatically enrolled once the system is ready. Check your CSUN email if you have not received your login information by the fifth week. Also, check your junk inbox for an email from Sona with your login information.
Complete the pre-screen as soon as you are registered in the system.
Make sure you are using your CSUN email address. (Common mistakes include typing @csun.edu into the user ID section. Sona Systems already includes the @csun.edu section, so just enter your information. Jim Jones would be jim.jones or if he had numbers attached it would be jim.jones.74)
If it still does not work, try copy and pasting your password from the email you recieved from Sona Systems. In the event you still are not allowed in, please contact the psychpool email.
If you are not yet 18 you are not allowed to participate in the research experiments and must complete the Alternative Research Assignments
If you turn 18 during the semester you have the choice to participate in Sona experiments or not. The Alternative Research Assignment is your second option, however, you must decide based on how much time you will have available to participate in experiments.
Your professor may allow you to do partial credits and the ARA, or Alternative Research Assignment, if you choose to participate halfway through the semester.
This varies each semester, based on the number of studies planned by researchers. In recent semesters, the requirement for PSY 150 has been 22 credits (or 3.67 hours) worth of research studies. For PSY 250, the requirement in recent semesters has been 14 credits (or 2.33 hours).
Your course professor is solely responsible for your grade. However, any actions deemed unethical will be reported to your professor for further action.
Credits are NOT given by the Research Area. Credits ARE given by the researchers who run the studies you participate in.
Please give the researchers about a week to post credits. After that, you can check Sona Systems and contact the researchers by the email listed in the study information.
Research for studies will start the first day of the fourth week of each semester. Once studies go online, you will be able to log onto Sona Systems and enroll in studies which you qualify for based on your pre-screen.
Make sure you have passed the deadline for the beginning of research.
If it is past the date listed, the experiments are either full or your prescreen has not qualified you for an open experiment. Please check Sona Systems at a later time or date.
The later parts of the semester tend to have more studies, but keep trying to find earlier studies to make sure you do not miss the cut-off date.
Most of the Research Cubicles are located in Sierra Hall. Some cubicles (330/328/326/324) are located on the north side of the main walkway and some cubicles (333A/B/C/D/E/J/K) are located in the SH 333 hallway.
The Alternative Research Assignment is a paper written on topics involving human subject research. Articles can be located in journals located in the online database of the Oviatt Library.
Option 1: Completing uncompleted research credits by participating in Sona studies. If you would like to pursue this option, please send an email to psychpool@csun.edu during the fourth week of the Fall or Spring semester so your Sona account can be reactivated. In your email, please include the course name (either PSY 150 or 250), the professor's name, and the semester in which you originally took the course.
Option 2: Completing the Alternative Research Assignment. If you would like to pursue this option, please send an email to psychpool@csun.edu to be added to the Psychology Research Area Canvas page. Please not that there is a new Canvas page each calendar year. Please also include the course name (either PSY 150 or 250), the professor's name, and the semester in which you originally took the course in this email.
NOTE: You only have one year to make up the research requirement for a course (i,e., if you took PSY 150 in Fall 2020 and received an incomplete due to an unfulfilled research requirement, you must complete Option 1 or 2 by the end of the Fall 2021 semester to get credit)!
You may stop by SH 362 to check-out materials. You must have your CSUN ID card with you in order to check-out items.
The Research Area office is located at SH 362 and the hours are regular business hours.
A study can run as soon as the Research Area has an approved Room & Participant Request form, Debrief form, Consent form, list of materials, and after you have an official room reservation, once your Sona Systems study information is 100% correct, and after you have reserved any equipment you need from the Research Area.
Your study will not be approved in Sona Systems until all information is 100% correct. Make sure you have an approved Room & Participant Request form, Consent form, Debrief form, you have an official room reservation, your Sona Systems study information is correct, and you have reserved any equipment you need from the Research Area.
Rooms must be reserved from psychpool@csun.edu or by coming in to SH 362.
Rooms with computers must be reserved from the Research Area.
The research area also has a few iPads to check-out on a daily basis for students to run their studies.
The Research Cubicles are located in Sierra Hall. Some cubicles (330/328/326/324) are located on the north side of the main walkway and some cubicles (333A/B/C/D/E/J/K) are located in the SH 333 hallway.
This link has a map of the third floor of Sierra Hall.
