SONA Psychology Research Participation System
SONA Login
Holy Family University has its own SONA site which can be accessed by visiting: https://holyfamily.sona-systems.com.
About the Subject Pool
The primary goal in creating a subject pool at Holy Family University is to allow both students and faculty to be engaged in a research environment. The subject pool facilitates the process of research participant recruitment. The subject pool at Holy Family University utilizes the SONA, an online cloud-based system which allows researchers and participants at Holy Family to sign up for and administer research studies.
Information for Students in PSYC 110/322: Course requirement
Students who are enrolled in the introduction to psychology course (PSYC 110) and Research Methods (PSYC 322) are required to complete one study (or alternative assignment- see below for more information about the alternative assignment) for each course. Students who are under the age of 18 are still required to complete the research requirement, however, they will not be permitted to participate in research studies. Rather, students who are under the age of 18 are required to complete the alternative assignment. Students who do not complete one of the research requirements will receive an Incomplete until the research requirement has been fulfilled. For those students who are enrolled in the online PSYC 110 course (PSYC 322 is not offered as an online course), they will have the opportunity to complete their research participation requirement online via SONA either through an online study or the alternative assignment (see below for more details). If a student does not receive a passing grade in PSYC 110 or 322, they will need to complete the research requirement again when they retake the course. Additionally, if a student does not complete the research requirement, a student will fail the course for not complying with this course policy.
The IRB and Alternative Assignments
Consistent with IRB policies at Holy Family University, students can elect alternatives to research participation. That is, students will be offered an opportunity such that they do not feel obligated or coerced into participating in a research study. Students will be offered the alternative to read a research article and answer a series of questions related to that article that will ask them to identify key components of current research (e.g., independent and dependent variables, major results, implications of the findings).