Participant recruitment

TODO: Check whether this info is still up to date today (info dates from 09/2022, I don't have a researcher account unfortunately)

TODO: Add info on how to recruit other types of participants (e.g., elderly, patients, children, experts, etc.)

Before starting participant recruitment, ensure your study is formally approved by the ethical committee (if you didn't do this yet, check out this page). Prepare this well in advance. All recruitment materials (e.g., flyers, posters) must include the study's end date as specified in the ethics application.

(Healthy young-adult) participants can be recruited in different ways:

1. Through the laboratory's participant database:

   • Including previous participants and individuals who have expressed interest in participating through word-of-mouth referrals TODO: check whether this formally exists and if yes, where

2. Through social connections of the researchers involved and/or by sharing your announcement via social media:

   • For example, announce your experiment on this facebook page, which collects the latest info on psychological experiments at KU Leuven
   • Make sure to read the guidelines on recruiting participants via social media provided by the ethical committee that approved your study (guidelines SMEC, guidelines EC onderzoek)

3. Through the online recruitment system of the faculty (see below)

Recruitment through the faculty's online recruitment system

The Experiment Management System (EMS) of the faculty is an online platform used to facilitate the management of experimental research and the recruitment of participants. As it is managed by Sona Systems, it is often referred to with this name as well. It can be accessed through this link. Here is some general info about the system:

• The EMS can be used to schedule the experiment, set time slots, and easily manage the availability of participants. It can also facilitate communication between researchers and participants, such as sending reminders for scheduled experiments or sharing important information. The system provides a clear overview of available experiments, the status of participation, and accredited course credits.
• All first-year psychology students can participate in experimental research by signing up through the EMS as part of their research methods course (typically between mid October and the end of May and in July).
• A credit system is used in which they can earn course credits (18 research participation points) by participating in collective (max. 12 points) and/or individual testing sessions.
• Students can also opt to do an alternative assignment to earn 2 course credits (i.e., writing a 1-2 page description of the participant experience from the methods section of a recent empirical paper). In this way, students can earn the same course credits as they would for participating in an experiment. This option is provided to ensure voluntariness of participation at all times.
• In addition, both students and non-students can sign up through the EMS for paid studies throughout the entire year.

PPW-affiliated researchers (you!) can offer their (on-site as well as online) experiments on the platform through a researcher account:

• To request such an account, send an email to ioco@kuleuven.be, and provide the following information: [firstname], [lastname], [u-number]@kuleuven.be, [firstname].[lastname]@kuleuven.be).
• Master's thesis students supervised by PPW staff are also allowed to access the participant pool, but supervisors need to request an account on their behalf.
• Participants can create an account themselves by following the instructions on the website of the EMS.

If you or your participants have any questions or problems related to the EMS, please check out these Youtube tutorials (for participants, for researchers) and/or rely on peer support (fellow students/researchers) before addressing the system administrator at ioco@kuleuven.be.

Recruitment Bias

It is important to consider potential recruitment biases when using the EMS. Since the pool primarily draws from university students, particularly first-year psychology students, the sample may not be fully representative of the general population. Additionally, there is often a higher proportion of female students in our faculty, which can introduce gender bias into the research findings. You should take this into account when designing studies and interpreting results when drawing from this participant pool.

Create a new experiment on the platform

As students rely on these experiments to collect the necessary research participation points for their research methods course (pass/fall evaluation, 1 ECTS), make sure to think about inclusivity and accessibility. Always specify whether the study location is wheelchair accessible and if students with disabilities can participate (e.g., motor, visual impairments).

To add a new study, provide the following information (for more detailed explanations, please watch this):

1. Study type: In case the experiment is online only, choose "Online External Study"
2. Choose between a paid or credit study (in case both are options, "credit" must be selected)

3. Study information:

   • Study name: Include the type of compensation in the title
   • Brief abstract
   • Detailed description
   • Eligibility requirements: Can be linked to the pre-screen participants fill out when signing up
   • Session duration
   • Credits: The total credit cap (= a technical matter on PI basis) can be set at 999 (if this is reached, email Tom Beckers to increase it)
   • Preparation: What to bring and/or how to prepare
   • Researcher & PI details
   • SMEC or EC approval number and expiration date
   • Approval status: The study needs to be approved by the system administrator when it's added
   • Activity status: Switch to inactive when you are not actively recruiting, toggle back when you resume

4. Advanced settings (optional):

   • Pre-requisite and disqualifier studies
   • Course restrictions, select either
   • Payed volunteer ("betaalde vrijwilliger"), to make sure participants expect payment, or
   • The ongoing methods course, to make sure participants expect course credit.
   • Age restrictions
   • Be careful with restrictions, think about inclusivity (be as inclusive as possible)
   • Ensure first-years are eligible by putting the lower age limit at 16 in the ethical dossier
   • Study invitation code
   • Study URL in case of web-based studies
   • Participant sign-up and cancellation deadlines
   • The cancellation deadline must have at least the same duration as the sign-up deadline
   • You cannot cancel participation before you sign up
   • Enable automated e-mails
   • Assign timeslots to a specific researcher
   • Automatic credit granting
   • Frequency of participation
   • Shared and private comments

5. Add timeslots for your experiment: For online studies, the timeslot is the participation deadline

Make sure to prepare your study carefully before asking for EMS approval, as some changes will require re-approval. To ask for approval, click the "asking approval" button. You can start preparing your study in EMS before obtaining ethics approval, but you cannot request EMS approval until you obtain formal ethical approval. Once the latter is obtained, approval in EMS will take 10 days at the very most (usually less than a few days; sending a polite reminder after a few days is fine).

Tip

The Sona Mobile app can be used to facilitate experiment scheduling (by adding/removing time slots as needed), but not to set up your study.

Collective testing sessions

• Students can earn up to 12 research participation credits per academic year by participating in collective testing sessions.
• For such sessions, researchers have to make all necessary arrangements themselves (e.g., rooms, equipment, setting up the study in the EMS, credit granting).
• In the EMS, you can create collective sessions by allowing multiple participants to access the same time slot.
• Students are encouraged to participate, but of course this is not mandatory, so you can not imply in your announcement that they have to participate.
• An overarching informed consent is provided through the EMS as a condition for signing up to a collective session, to allow data pooling across different collective testing sessions. However, individual consent is still necessary for each specific session, along with separate ethics approval.

Screener

• Upon getting an account, participants need to fill out a pre-screener. In this screener, they are asked to indicate their handedness, gender, vision status, age, availability in weekends and evenings, fluency in Dutch and English and the last digit of their student number (for random assignment).
• While setting up your experiment, you can set a few pre-screen restrictions to restrict the visibility of your study to participants who fail to meet those restrictions. Vice versa, you can also choose to send an automated email to all students who qualify for the pre-screen restrictions specific to your study.
• If you want to see more items added to the pre-screen, you can send an email to ioco@kuleuven.be and/or Tom Beckers.

Participant consent

Before starting the experiment, participants need to be fully informed about the study via a study information sheet, after which they need to sign the informed consent form. In these forms, it is important to make clear that they can withdraw from the study at any time and to provide contact details to give them the opportunity to ask questions (before and/or after the experiment).

• In case of on-site experiments, the information sheet as well as the informed consent can be presented (and signed) on paper.
• In case of online experiments, the information sheet as well as the informed consent can be presented digitally via the EMS. Instead of signing the ICF, participants can then explicitly select whether they agree or not agree to participate.

After participation or after the study is finished, you can choose to debrief participants orally or via mail about the (general) study results and/or discuss their individual task performance during the experimental session.

Data confidentiality

Generally, except for gender and age, personal information does not need to be recorded. As all participants receive a system-assigned ID code (EMS code) to log in to the experiment, their participation and research data can remain fully anonymous. Also external people can use the EMS to ensure confidentiality.

• To avoid that a link is created between the EMS code and participant identity, please make sure to never ask for any identifying information such as their name or student number. This information will also never be provided by the administrator.
• Of course, if a person participates in a paid study, you will need to ask for their name, address, email and bank account number to process the payment. This communication can occur through the EMS, such that this information is not shared on any of the online platforms.
• Likewise, if a student wants to receive an update about the study results after the study is finished, they will need to provide their email address. These personal data should be saved in a password-protected file that will be stored as long as the study is ongoing, but deleted after publication of the research data.

TODO: add (more) guidelines on how to store/manage data (probably best in a separate section)

Reimbursement

Reimbursement can take the following forms:

• Credit study: Research participation credits must be assigned in multiples of 0.25, i.e., 0.25 credit per 15 minutes, such that 1h equals 1 credit. Credits cannot be transferred between academic years.
• Paid study: The standard pay rate is up to 10 euros per hour, without additional incentives. Exceptions are possible for high-effort or aversive studies (e.g., fMRI, ESM).
• Mixed study: Award 0 credits to those who receive payment.

TODO: Add info on how the procedure for money reimbursement works, found info on this link and this link

Of course, all (psychology) students also benefit from participation by gathering insights into the common procedures of psychological research (wink).

Please record participant presence ("show-ups") and assign credits or pay participants promptly (preferably the same day and always within 1 week). To do so, you will need to collect the student's EMS code.

Tip

The Sona Mobile app can be used for quick credit granting by scanning the QR code in the reminder email to the participants.

No shows

• Participants should contact the researcher if they cannot attend the session, which qualifies as an excused no-show.
• Unexcused no-shows incur a penalty of -0.5 credit. If a participant has 5 or more no-shows, their account will be inactivated.