BRIEF SUMMARY INSTRUCTIONS….

 
• Go to http://umasspsych.sona‐systems.com 
• Register for a new account (unless you have an active account from last semester) 
•   Make sure you select all the courses you are taking this semester 
•   Use your umass.edu account for your email account 
• Go to your email account and look for an email from Sona System   which has your password 
and user information. 
• Log in to the system 
• Decide whether to do the online PRESCREEN 
For the first few weeks of each semester, the prescreen offered is a longer version than you will see during the 
rest of the semester. This longer version allows all people who complete it to be considered for studies that are 
not offered to the general population.  You can opt out of this survey if you wish. The study should take ap‐
proximately one hour. 
 

For Psych 100, 240 and 241 classes 
Students in these classes are offered an extra credit option for completing the PRESCREEN. If you complete the 
PRESCREEN between September 7th through September 24th  at 11:59 pm. You will be granted 2 extra credits 
in the 100, 240 or 241 class you are enrolled in. Your professor will be notified at the end of the two week pe‐
riod if you have completed this study. They will post the results wherever they post your grades. SONA will NOT 
tell you whether you completed the PRESCREEN during the two week window to be eligible for those extra 
credits. You will need to speak to your professor about that.  If you do not wish to participate in research stud‐
ies, there are other ways for you to earn extra– credit in your course. Please speak to your professor to find out 
about these opportunities. 
 

For Psych Students in Other Classes  
We strongly encourage students in classes other than Psych 100, 240 and 241 to participate in the online pre‐
screening.  Although you will not receive extra credit for participating in the prescreening, your participation 
may allow you to be eligible for a broader array of other psychology studies.   
 

After that two week period the longer survey will be replaced with a much shorter version 
and no extra credit will be available to students in Psych 100, 240 or 241 for completing it. 
 
• Go to My Profile and change your password to something you will re member. 
• Review any studies that are available and sign up. 
• You will get reminders of upcoming studies but it is your responsibility to know what studies 
you have signed up for. 
• YOU CAN CANCEL  YOUR OWN APPOINTMENTS ON LINE but you must do it at least a day be‐
fore to avoid incurring a no‐show.  
The ability to earn extra credit through Human Subject Studies is a privilege.  If you  incur 3 
or more no shows in a semester you may lose the privilege to do any more studies that se‐
mester. 

Turn the page for more complete instructions.

 LAST DAY TO DO STUDIES
FOR EXTRA CREDIT
FOR FALL 10 SEMESTER

Dec 2nd
11:59pm
You must make any corrections,
resolve any problems about your credit totals by
Dec 9th at 11:59pm
No changes will be made after that date.

Any questions or problems contact:

System Administrator
Aggie Mitchkoski
Tobin Hall Rm 441
545-2383
esched@psych.umass.edu
 Human Subjects’ Online SONA system Participant Documentation

This semester we are continuing to use an online system for Human Subjects
Research. If you used the system last semester, you can use your log info from
then. Everyone else will need to request an account and login as a new partici-
pant this. Please read the instructions carefully.

If you have FORGOTTEN YOUR PASSWORD…. CLICK HERE

Requesting a NEW Account

Go to http: umasspsych.sona-systems.com
You will see a link on the front page of the site to request an account. Click the link, and you will be
required to provide some very basic information. You will receive an e-mail notification immediately
with your login information. The e-mail notification will include login instructions for the system. You
will be assigned a default password, which you can change after your first login. The e-mail will
come from the administrators e-mail address, (esched@psych.umass.edu) so be sure to configure

John
The user id is whatever you want it to be
John@psych.umass.edu
Email address should be your UMASS email address. If you
are a Five College student you can use your .edu address.

Select ALL the courses you are taking. Hold down the
control key while you select the courses , if you are tak-
ing more than one.

Fall 10 3, 
 Logging in
Once you have your login information, go to the front page of the site and enter your
user ID and password to log in. Once you login, you will be asked to participate in a
demographics questionnaire. See the front page of this handout for more information
on that survey. After you complete these tasks, you will see the Main menu (a copy of
the Main menu is below.)

Your login (also known as the session) will expire after a certain amount of inactivity,
usually 20 to 60 minutes. This is done for security purpose. If this happens, you can
always log in again. When you are done using the system, it is better to explicitly
lockout, to prevent any problems that may arise if someone uses your computer be-
fore the session expires. This is especially important if you are using a public com-

Tells you how you signed on… as a partici- Toolbar to open studies, look at your
pant or as a researcher credits, change your password...

Retrieving a lost pass-

word
If you have forgotten or do not
have your password, then you may
choose to have the password e-
mailed to you. You will see an op-
tion on the front login page. Your
password will be e-mailed after
you submit the form, and should
arrive in your e-mail box momen-
FALL 08 4.
 Changing your Pass-
word and Other Infor-
mation
If you would like to change your
password or other information
about yourself, choose My Pro-
file from the top toolbar. If you
would like to change your pass-
word, type your new password
(twice, for confirmation) in the
provided boxes. If you would
not like to change the password
simply leave these boxes empty.

Changing Your
Courses
Please notice that here is where
you can also change the
courses you identified. Just click
the Change Courses link and
follow the instructions.

Viewing studies
To view a list of studies, click on
Studies from top toolbar. You’ll see a list of
studies. A brief description of each study
will be listed as well as any special require-
ments that may restrict your eligibility to par-
ticipate in the study.
Studies that currently have available
participation times (timeslots) will have
“TIMESLOTS AVAILABLE” listed next to the
name of the study. If no studies have avail-
able timeslots, you may want to log onto the
system a few days later to see if new time-
slots have been added. You may also se-
lect a specific date to view studies with
available timeslots on that date.
To view more information about a
study click on the name of the study.

Fall 10 5.
Signing up for studies
To sign up to participate in a study, click on
the study name for more information. You
will see a list of any special restrictions for
eligibility requirements, as well as a contact
person if you have a question about the
study.

Some restrictions are automatically en-

forced by the system. If the study has cer-
tain prerequisites are disqualifier’s (studies
you must not have participated in to partici-
pate in this study), those will be listed, as
well as a note about whether you meet
those eligibility requirements.

The study may have other restrictions listed

as Subject Restrictions. An example of a
Subject Restrictions is “Left-handed people
only.” If listed, then the system does not en-
force this restriction, but you should only
sign up for the study if you meet this restric-
tion. If you sign up for the study and you do
not meet the restrictions, you will likely not
receive credit for the study or could receive
a penalty.

Once you’ve determined you meet all the

requirements, click on View Timeslots for
This Study and you will see a list of avail-
able time slots. Choose a time slot that is
convenient for you and click Sign Up.

Then you will see information displayed

confirming the time and location of the
study you plan to participate in. You will
receive an e-mail confirmation. You are
now signed up for the study. 

Fall 10 6.
 Online survey studies
Some studies may be online survey studies. If you sign up for one of
these studies, you will be taken immediately to the survey. You must
complete the study in one sitting. As soon as you complete the survey,
you will receive credit.

Special Survey for

Two-part studies
Some studies are two-part studies, where
you must sign up for both parts of the study at once,
and the two parts must be scheduled a certain num-
ber of days apart. These studies will be clearly
marked.
When you sign up for the first part of the
study, the system tells you that you must sign up for
the 2nd also. After you have signed up for the first
the system will bring you to another page to sign up
for the second part. If you do not sign up for the
Need a special pass-
word?
Some studies require a special
password to sign up. If this is the
case, it will be noted. The re-
searchers should have given you
this special password. It is not the
same as the password you use to
log into the system. You will need
to enter the special sign a pass-
word just before you

Assigning your cred-

its to courses...when
you are signing up for
a study you can select
whatever course you
want that study to be
credited to. Just select
the course from the
drop down list.
Fall 10
 Canceling a sign up
or
avoiding
no-shows
If you need to cancel a time slot
you have signed up for, you can
do this from the My Schedule
and Credits page. Choose the
My Schedule\Credits option
from the top toolbar. You will
see listed all the studies you
have signed up for, as well as
those you have completed.

Studies you have signed up for

that you are allowed to cancel
will have a Cancel button next to
them. There is a time limit be-
fore this study is to occur, when
it is too late to cancel ,the sys-
tem will tell you that too. Three
or more NoShows may result in
your not being able to do any
more studies in that semester. 
 
Put the credits to the
wrong class?
Just click on the REASSIGN
button and select the class
you want the credits to go to.
 
 
 
Want to know how
many credits you
have?
At the bottom of the My Sched-
ule and Credits page there’s a
running total for each class.

Fall 10 8.