For partial credit towards completion of the course requirements for Principles of Psychology 101 and 102, students in these courses participate in research conducted in the psychology department. In exchange for participating in research studies, students earn "R-Points".
Students taking Psych 101 or 102 during the day are required to earn 7 total R-Points. Evening class students are required to earn 5 total R-Points. Students enrolled in Principles of Psychology 101 and 102 concurrently are only required to complete R-points for one class. If one or both of these classes is a day class, the student is required to earn 7 R-points.
Students who take Psych 101 or 102 during the summer are required to earn 5 total R-points for daytime classes and 3 total R-points for evening classes.
The first step towards earning R-Points is to create an online user account with Sona Systems. Once your account has been created, you can log in to the system and participate in a prescreening survey worth 2 R-Points. Your participation in the survey is entirely voluntary and you may decline to complete the survey if you so choose. If you do decline to participate, this may affect the number of studies you will be qualified to sign up for during the semester. To participate in the prescreening survey, log onto Sona Systems and select the study entitled "Prescreening Survey". This may be the easiest 2 R-Points you can earn this semester.
Over the course of the semester, you can earn your remaining R-Points by signing up for and participating in research studies. You will use your Sona Systems account to schedule your research appointments.
Creating an account is simple and easy, and takes five minutes. To create your account, go to http://rutgers.sona-systems.com, click "Request Account" and put in your information. Please use your RUID as your User ID. Finally, you should select the course for which you are earning R-points. Using the system allows you to sign up for studies, cancel study times, and track your R-Point progress. Each study listed shows you a brief summary detailing the nature of the study, the time it takes place, how many R-Points you will earn by participating, and the name and contact information for the researcher conducting the study.
All students are invited to participate in the Prescreening, which is a simply set of survey questions that you can answer online from any computer. Students can earn 2 of their required R-points by completing the prescreening survey. The prescreening survey will take no more than 45 minutes to complete, and you cannot complete it during class time. The prescreening must be completed online by the date specified by the Subject Pool coordinator.
Please note: Students who are in enrolled in 101 and 102 at the same time may only complete the prescreening once.
Your RUID is your 9-digit student identification number. It is NOT your social security number!
For detailed information on how to obtain your RUID, please visit this website.
If you are an NJIT student, or if for some reason you cannot locate your RUID, you may write to the R-points coordinator at rutgersrpoints@psychology.rutgers.edu for assistance.
If you forget your password, simply go to http://rutgers.sona-systems.com and click on "Lost Your Password". Your password will be e-mailed to you.
To change your password, click on the menu item entitled "My Profile". Therein you can follow the prompt to change your password for logging on to the website.
If you need to cancel participation in a study for any reason, you can do so online through Sona Systems up until the cancellation deadline listed on the study information page. If the deadline has passed, you can still cancel your appointment by contacting the researcher directly by e-mail or by telephone (if listed). You must contact the researcher prior to the time the study is set to commence.
If the researcher has not cancelled and fails to show up at the designated time, you are entitled to all of the R-Points for that study. Please allow researchers 10 minutes after the start time of your experiment to arrive. If they do not, you should go directly to the psychology main office in Smith Hall room 301 to report the event, or contact the R-points coordinator at rutgersrpoints@psychology.rutgers.edu.
If you receive a cancellation email 24 hours or more before your scheduled appointment, no points are awarded to you. If the researcher cancels the appointment with less than 24 hrs notice, you are entitled to 1 R-point, regardless of the number of points the study is worth.
If the researcher cancels the appointment via email with less than 24 hrs notice AND the appointment is the final one scheduled for that study (for multi-part studies only), you are entitled to all points associated with that study. Please be sure to check your email the day of your appointment for cancellations.
Underage students are not permitted by law to take part in psychological research without parental consent. Therefore, students who are underage as of the first day of class ("under 18 students") are excluded from the subject pool. "Under 18 students" who will not turn 18 before the end of the semester are required to sign an Experiment Waiver form and provide proof of age to the R-points coordinator, their professor, or their graduate student TA. However, such students are still required to complete the R-point requirement by writing a total of four 1-page summaries of peer-reviewed journal articles in psychology.
Please note that if you are an "under 18 student" and you do participate in research via Sona Systems, you will receive NO R-POINTS.
"Under 18 students" who turn 18 during the semester may choose to participate in R-points research once they reach their 18th birthday and are therefore able to provide true informed consent. Upon turning 18, students wishing to participate in R-points research may enter themselves into the subject pool by creating a Sona Systems account at that time.
PLEASE NOTE: "Under 18 students" who turn 18 during the semester and wish to participate in R-points research should NOT submit an Experiment Waiver form at the beginning of the semester. Any student who submits an Experiment Waiver form must complete the alternative to participation: four 1-page summaries of peer-reviewed journal articles in psychology.
Adult students (18+ yrs of age) may choose to summarize research articles from peer-reviewed journals in psychology as an alternative to the R-point requirement. You must complete one summary for each R-point. Summaries should be typed (not hand written) 1 page long, double-spaced, 1-inch margin, pt 12 or smaller font size. Papers must be submitted no later than the last day of scheduled classes (before the beginning of pre-exam "reading days"). The provisions for alternative participation are listed in detail on the Sona Systems website under the menu "FAQ". Students can complete a combination of research R-points and paper summary R-points to earn their required number of R-points.
If you fail to complete your R-point requirement during the semester, your grade for the course will be temporarily dropped 1 letter grade (So, your hard-earned "A" will become a temporary B--a "TB"). You can amend this reduction by completing your R-point requirement the following semester. Your grade will be changed following completion (in this example, back to "A"). Your grade will be changed only after you inform your professor and the R-points coordinator of your completion of the make-up points.
If you fail to complete the requirement the following semester, the temporary grade will become permanent. Please be aware that your temporary grade reduction will be factored into your current grade point average. Once you complete your R-point requirement and your grade is changed to the grade you earned, this will be reflected in your grade point average.