Subject Pool

The subject pool is designed to enable ERIM’s behavioural researchers to benefit from student participation in research studies held at the Erasmus Behavioural Lab (EBL). Students can be awarded course credits (through ERPS) or money (though EURO) for their participation.

ERPS and EURO

ERIM Research Participation System (ERPS) relies on the involvement of teachers from selected (RSM) courses willing to give students the possibility to acquire a small part of their course grade via research participation. These students always participate in research studies strictly on a voluntary basis. For more information, check out the user manual.

Erasmus University Research Opportunities (EURO) is open to all students of Erasmus University that are interested in participating in research studies in return for money.

Software

The subject pools are administered independently. They are nevertheless both managed and hosted by software from Sona Systems. This software provides the infrastructure for booking research participants and for tracking course credits (in ERPS). The application is delivered online and can therefore be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection. The number of students who can be handled by the system is unlimited.

Instructions for Users

The steps required from users during the planning and administration of studies are listed below.

1. Get IRB approval

Ethical approval for all studies ran in the lab and on the subject pool is required. You need an IRB code to book the lab and to get your study approved. You can apply for IRB approval here.

2. Book lab space

To use the subject pool researchers must first ensure the availability of lab space. The first step is therefore to log on the EBL room booking system and book lab space for the required days and times. If users do not have a personal account for the room booking system, they must first contact the EBL supporter Sharon Singh at singh@essb.eur.nl to obtain access.

3. Upload Study

Once lab space has been secured, the user will proceed with the creation of a new study on the ERPS/EURO website. This step entails the creation of a new study (name, abstract, eligibility criteria, and the like) and the selection of time slots that participants can select. When creating a new study the researcher will provide some information about the study (a title and a general idea of the research area).

If users do not have a personal account for ERPS, they must first contact the system administrator  at erps@rsm.nl for access. For EURO, users can request an account via the site itself.

4. Record participation

The day before the experiment researchers should download the list of scheduled participants and bring this list to the lab so that they (or the research assistant in charge of administering the study) can take note of which students participated. It is very important that great care is placed in ensuring perfect record of participation. To avoid fraud researchers must ask students to show some sort of ID before allowing them to participate in an experiment.

5. Award credits (ERPS only)

Users should award course credits to participants by updating the course credit record in ERPS.

6. Debrief students

For guaranteeing the educational benefits of research participation, it is vital that participants of all experiments are debriefed shortly after the completion of the study. This may be done via email.

Links