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Research

Students

Many courses in the Brian Lamb School of Communication allow students to participate as subjects in research experiments as a way to receive extra class credit. The Lamb School administers this research participation through an online program called the Research Participation System, and it provides an easy online method for you to sign up as subjects for experiments, to keep track of the experiments you have completed, and to view how many credits you have earned for each experiment.

For Students in COM 114: You can use participation in one research experiment to fulfill your Outside Communication Activity course requirement: Option One: Participation in a research study.

For Students in COM Courses Other than COM 114: For each of your COM classes you can typically participate in 2-3 different experiments to earn extra credit. NOTE: Not all COM classes allow extra credit for research participation. So before signing up for an experiment, first check with your Professor or check your course syllabus to determine which of your courses allows extra credit for research participation.

Typically, you can earn 0.5% credit for experiments up to 30 minutes long; 1% credit for experiments 30-60 minute long; 1.5% percent credit for experiments 60-90 minute long; and 2% percent credit for experiments over 90 minutes long.

Read on for instructions or download the printable instructions here.

Getting Started

  1. Access the Research Participation System sign-up program.
  2. Click the link on the bottom left of the log-in page that says: New Participant-Request an account here. You will be asked to provide basic information. Your user ID is the first part of your Purdue e-mail address,
    • For example:croland@purdue.edu. 
    • Fill in the required information. Here is an example:
      • First name: Roland
      • Last name: Christopher
      • User ID: croland
      • User ID verification: croland
      • Telephone: Optional
      • Courses: ***Carefully select your course or courses from the drop-down box of COM courses.
  3. After clicking the Request Account box you will receive an email with your login password.
  4. Once you receive your password, you can log-in to the Research Participation System. Enter your user ID and your password.
  5. After you log-in, you will be asked to acknowledge the human subject policy for research (This needs to be acknowledged once every 6 months). After you complete this task, you will see the Main Menu.

Signing Up for Experiments

To sign up for an experiment:

  1. Click on the experiment name to view more information.
  2. To view a list of experiments, click on Studies from the top toolbar. A brief description of each experiment will be listed. NOTE: Some experiments may be an online survey. Experiments that have available participation timeslots will have “TIMESLOTS AVAILABLE” listed next to the name of the experiment. If no experiments have available timeslots, log-on to the system a few days later to see if new timeslots have been added.
  3. Click on View Timeslots for this experiment. You will see a list of available timeslots and a drop down box “Courses to Credit” which lists the Communication courses that you are registered for.
  4. Choose a time slot that is convenient for you.
  5. Choose the course that you want the credits to count towards and then click Sign Up. After you click Sign Up, you will see information displayed confirming the time and location of the experiment you plan to participate in. You will receive an email confirmation as well. You are now signed up for the experiment. You will also receive an email reminder the day before the experiment, reminding you of the location and time of the experiment. Be aware that if you fail to appear for an experiment without prior notification (see Canceling a Sign-Up), you will be automatically restricted from signing up for any experiments for 30 days.

Canceling a Sign-Up

There is a time limit before the experiment is to occur when it is too late to cancel (see the information for the specific experiment).

  1. Click on My Schedule/Credits option from the toolbar
  2. You will see listed all the experiments you have signed up for, and those you have completed.

Tracking Your Credit Progress

Choose My Schedule/Credits option from the toolbar. You will see the experiments that you have signed up for and the credit status for each, and how many credits you have earned for each course. There is a cut-off date at the end of the semester (TBA) by which all experiments must be completed in order to receive class credit. Be sure to check your totals before the cut-off to ensure that your credits have been counted and make any changes you wish to your records.

Reassigning Credit

If you are in multiple COM courses, you can reassign a credit from one course to another. To do so, use the Reassign link that appears when you view your progress. The link appears under the course entry for each item in your progress listing.

Retrieving a Lost Password

If you have forgotten or do not have your password, you can click a link on the bottom left of the log-in page that says: Lost Your Password-Click Here to retrieve it. Your password will then be emailed to you.

Changing Your Password, Email Address, and Other Information

To change your password or other information, choose My Profile from the toolbar on the main menu and the “update your profile” page will open. If you provide an alternate email address (e.g., Hotmail), this is where emails will be sent rather than to your Purdue email.