Instructors

The School of Communication is now using the Research Participation System to schedule and credit students’ participation in communication research studies. Using the system students can register for courses, get reports on their extra credit participation, and determine to which course they would like to assign the extra credit Instructors to receive a report of students earned credit at the end of each semester.

If you are allowing your students to earn extra credit for research participation please make a brief announcement explaining your extra credit policy and directing them to the Research Participation System website, (available from the Communication School website under Research) where they can sign up to participate in various Communication studies. Students can earn up to 1/2% for every half-hour they participate in a study, with a total of no more than 3% extra credit allowed for any one course. Additionally, you will want to include instructions in your syllabus regarding your extra credit or research participation policies.

The following is an example of what one professor uses in their syllabus to inform students of their extra credit policy:

Extra Credit for Participating in Research Studies 

The Lamb School is now using an online program that expedites the process of recruiting, signing up, and granting extra credit to students for participating in research studies. The program is called the Research Participation System, and it provides an easy online method for you to sign up for research studies, to keep track of the studies you have completed, and to view how many credits you have earned for each study. You can access the system online at any time, from any computer with a standard web browser. By participating in studies done within the School of Communication, you can learn first hand how a study is conducted, you can contribute to the advancement of the field, and you can improve your grade by earning extra credit. 

You earn a 1/2% credit for every half-hour that you participate in a study. The maximum percent that you can earn for this course is 3%, which will be added to your total course points (insert number of points). For example, if student A participates in 2 studies (30 minutes each) s/he receives 1/2% credit for each study for a total of 1%. If student A, then participates in 2 studies (60 minutes each), s/he receives 1% credit for each; of these 60-minute studies for a total of 2% 

Thus, student A will have 3% of (insert number of points) (or XXXX points) added to their total course points. 

If you sign up to participate in a study and fail to show up without canceling your appointment in advance (up to 2 hours before the study), you will be automatically restricted from signing up for any studies for 30 days. You may quickly cancel your appointment online using the Research Participation System. 

Please review the instructions before you sign up for studies; To view the instructions go to http://www.cla.purdue.edu/communication/ and select Research > Research Participation System. 

You can sign up to participate in studies by logging in to the Research Participation System at http://purdue-comm.sona-systems.com/ or by going to the Communication School website and selecting Research >Research Participation System.

If you would like to earn extra credit but do not wish to participate in a research study, you may elect to do an optional project instead of participating in experiments. For example, you can complete an alternative writing activity involving library research by which you can earn the same amount of extra credit in approximately the same amount of time as research participation.