Conducting Experiments

Scheduling Studies

Scheduling can be completed directly through researchers’ SONA account, where researchers will be able to search for available timeslots, enter study descriptions, and analyse pre-screen results to select eligible participants. The Lab Manager will confirm all reservations.

Focus group sessions can be scheduled only when there are no other studies scheduled and cannot occur at the same time as PC studies.

Staff Support

The lab manager will principally manage the participant pool via the SONA systems software, assisting with communication to participants, recruitment management, and payment in close coordination with primary researchers.

The lab manager and research assistants will support researchers with study design, translation, pre-screening, programming, data management, surveillance, and set up and problem-shooting of software and lab equipment.

The lab staff will also assist with ethical procedure and general research conduct (informed consent forms, debriefing, adherence to study protocols, etc.).

The NEOMA XP Lab will abide by the highest ethical standards regarding research involving human subjects. All studies conducted at the lab will be subject to the approval of Ethical Validation Procedure whose purpose is to set ethical code and principals to protect the welfare the rights and welfare of individuals who volunteer to participate in research studies.

Ethics Approval Request

The Ethical Review Procedure implies a checklist procedure that serves as a vetting procedure to determine whether research protocols require submission to the Ethical Validation Procedure for approval. The questionnaire is used to test whether the research involves more than minimal risk that may be harmful to participants.

Researchers must administer consent form adapted to their study. If the study involves some form of deception (eg. manipulation of negative emotions, fake news etc) a debriefing form must be administered to each study participant.

Contact the Lab Manager for the Ethics Approval Request form

Consent Forms

Acquiring written informed consent from all potential study participants is required for each study conducted at the XP Lab. The consent process involves giving participants adequate information concerning the study, while giving them ample opportunity to consider all options, responding to questions, and ensuring that they have fully understood the information. 

As such, in drafting the consent forms, which may differ from study to study, researchers should be mindful of fully informing participants of the type of data that will be collected (anonymous as well as personal data), how that data and confidentiality will be protected, what kind of procedures they will undergo as subjects (e.g. computer tasks, EEG caps, videotaping, etc.), the duration of the study, compensation details, participant’s right (voluntary participation, consent withdrawal, to leave the pool and study at any time with no penalty, etc.), and the contact details of the lab manager.

Researchers will include it in the study so that participants can review and approve it.

Contact the Lab Manager for the Consent form.

Debriefing Form

In addition to a consent form, researchers are advised to provide a debriefing form at the end of their studies in the event of any necessary deception before the study. Any information that was withheld before the study to maintain its integrity and prevent bias should be revealed. Participants should be given the opportunity to remove their data from the study and permanently delete it from the Lab files, while being reminded to not disclose such information about the study to other potential participants.

If they choose not to withdraw, participants should be given the option to receive a copy of the final report of the study or a summary of findings when it is completed.

Students should be informed that they can also withdraw from studies by cancelling their appointments directly from their SONA account (before the study).

Contact the Lab Manager for the debriefing form.

Log into SONA

Requesting an Account

Researchers are required to create their account on Sona, log in and then contact the Lab Manager, she will grant the researcher profile rights. Researchers will then be able to log in as a researcher, enter a description of study, schedule studies and invite participants.

Registering Studies

Once logged in, researchers can create and add new studies, view and edit existing and upcoming studies, and view and edit timeslots.

When adding news studies, researchers will be able to choose the type of study (standard, multi-part). Here, they will indicate the name, a brief abstract, and detailed description of the study. Details about eligibility requirement, duration (in minutes), remuneration details, preparation, the name of the principal researchers, and IRB approval status.

Anonymous Participant IDs

Researchers will not have access to the names or identities of the participants who sign up for their studies and will only see their “Unique System-Assigned ID Code” in SONA.

Calendar

Available slots will be regularly updated and available for researchers.

Prescreen Survey

All participants will have to fill out a prescreen survey that will assist researchers to select suitable research subjects. Researchers can create selection criteria based on prescreening answers.

Participant Recruitment

Researchers may contact the participants who meet their selection criteria to inform and invite them to participate in their study. They may click on the Contact link that will appear next to each participant’s ID code, to contact an individual participant or a group of participants for a particular timeslot. To ensure confidentiality, researchers will not see the email or name of email recipients.