Getting Started
Department of Psychology Subject Pool
The UCLA Psychology Subject Pool is tool for researchers (primarily grad students and latter faculty) in the Psychology Department and Linguistics department to conduct studies with student participants. Courses in the Psych department and the Ling department may also choose to have their undergraduate-classes listed on SONA for students to apply earned credits as extra credit towards their course.
Posting to SONA
Instructions for All Researchers Conducting Studies
In order to conduct studies on Sona, researchers are required to complete the following steps:
1) Obtain approval from the BruinIRB to use Sona and study human subjects.
2) Apply to have your study approved by the chair of the subject pool committee.
3) Create your study on Sona and send a request to the admin to publish/make available.
*All steps must be completed in order, skipping any step will cause your application or requests to be voided.*
- Researchers must first receive a copy of your IRB and/or Office of Human Research Protection Program (OHRPP) before applying to have their study approved and/or posted on Sona.
- **This preliminary step is not conducted by our office, please follow up with the respective websites/departments below for more information.**
- A separate application is required for each study posted to Sona (even if they all fall under the umbrella of one larger study).
- Researchers are required to attach a copy of their IRB and/or Office of Human Research Protection Program (OHRPP) approval to their application prior to review.
- Once a decision has been finalized you will be notified by subjectpool@psych.ucla.edu
- If approved you may move on to part 3
- If declined, you will be notified of the reason and asked to resubmit additional applications until the issue has been fixed.
- All applications are reviewed by the Chair of the Subject Pool Committee, Dr. Ladan Shams.
- Applications can take 5-7 business days to process.
- Once your study has been approved, you will receive an email notification from subjectpool@psych.ucla.edu regarding next steps. From there you may request a researcher account for yourself and any research assistants you have, which will enable you to access the Psychology Department Subject Pool system.
- Once logged into Sona, click “create a new study” & insert the information exactly as it appears on your original application. Once completed, save the changes and click “send request“ to submit your study to be published by the administrator.
- Do not submit your study on Sona before receiving approval for your application, otherwise the study will be deleted.
- This process usually takes about 1-2 business days to process.
Once your study has been posted, you may conduct your experiments, recruit participants, schedule appointment times, and assign credits. Note that compensation to participants is restricted to course credit only. Participants may not receive additional compensation for their involvement in the Psychology Subject Pool.
Additional Information
Important Dates and Deadlines
- 1st day to run experiments is Monday Week 1 of each quarter.
- Last day to run experiments and assign credit is Thursday Week 10 for Fall, Winter, & Spring quarters.
- Last day to run experiments and assign credit is Tuesday Week 6 for Summer Sessions A and C.
- Sona will remain closed to all users between any given quarters.
(From the Last day to run experiments* to the Monday of Week 1 the following quarter*) - Applications are valid for the academic year in which they are applied in. Prior to the start of the academic year, all studies and their data will be deleted, if you wish to continue a study from previous quarters into the fall you will be required to submit a new application.
Forms and Guides
For questions please contact subjectpool@psych.ucla.edu