Recruiting and Testing

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Guidelines for classroom recruiting and testing of participants for psychology research

Student participation in psychological research can be beneficial both to investigators and to undergraduate students. By participating in research, these students have the opportunity to gain a better appreciation of psychological testing and experimentation. However, as there are potential risks associated with classroom recruitment and student testing, these guidelines are intended to facilitate the collection of participants and/or data in undergraduate classroom settings at Concordia University, while protecting the rights of student research participants.

Approaching the Instructor
The instructor should be provided with the following information well in advance of the classroom visit:

1. Who is supervising the project.

2. When the recruiter would prefer to visit the class.

3. How long the class visit will take.

4. The nature of the recruitment (sign up sheet, screening questionnaire, etc.)

5. What (if any) testing will occur at the time of recruitment.

Recruiting in Class
When the recruiter visits the classroom, the following information should be provided to the students:

1. The name of the recruiter(s) and the faculty member(s) supervising the project.

2. Contact information for the lab(s) in which the study is being conducted.

3. What the study is meant to investigate.

4. The nature of the study (questionnaire based, interview based, brief description of experimental tasks, etc.).

5. The amount of time required to participate in the study.

6. What compensation (if any) participants will receive for their time.

7. When the study is being conducted (Are appointments set?, Can students drop by the lab?, etc.).

8. Student should be informed that the data that they may provide during the course of their participation are completely unrelated to their required coursework or grade.

9. That participation is completely voluntary and that participants can refuse or withdraw from the study at any time without any negative consequences whatsoever.

10. The nature and/or limits of confidentiality in the study.
Ideally, the recruiter should leave the room while sign up sheets and/or questionnaires are being completed so that students will be free to either participate or decline to participate.

Testing in Class
Due to the possible demands produced by testing in groups, in the presence of experimenters and/or in the presence of course instructors, testing in classrooms is discouraged.
If in-class testing is deemed to be essential, the following measures (in addition to the above 10 points) should be taken to protect students from coercion and to ensure the confidentiality of their participation:

1. Participants should be told that their results will not be made available to their instructor.

2. Participants who choose not to participate should not be separated or otherwise identified during classroom testing. (This may be accomplished by distributing packages to all students in the class and then stating that students are free to either spoil the materials or leave them blank before returning them.)

3. In addition to written debriefing (see below), students should receive a brief oral debriefing in class about the purpose of the study.

Debriefing
All experimental and study participants have the right to be debriefed from psychological studies. In order to facilitate both a greater understanding of research in psychology and to provide other sources of related information about the study, student participants should receive a brief written debriefing sheet (less than one half page) upon completion of the study. The debriefing sheet should contain the following information:

1. The name of the study, the experimenter(s) and the faculty supervisor(s).

2. The telephone and other contact information for the lab(s) in which the study was conducted as well as contact information for the University Human Research Ethics Committee and the Psychology Department Ethics Committee.

3. *The nature of the study (hypotheses, goals, etc.).

4. *Some information about the design of the study (groups, measures, etc.).

5. A brief statement about the importance or implications of the study.

6. Citation of one or two suggested articles or book chapters for further reading.

*If the study involves deception, it is acceptable for items 3 and 4 to be somewhat vague when distributed in written form, provided that a full oral debriefing is given to each participant.
Ideally, this sheet will be accompanied by a brief oral debriefing period in which the above are explained to the student participant.