All REP points and cash awards are given using student x500's (which are recorded when students sign up via the online system.) Students are able to track their points in the REP system. Each REP project should have a researcher or research assistants who will have access to the REP research site and will be responsible for awarding points and cash awards.
How many points to award?
REP points are awarded after students have participated. Award one point per half hour of participation, rounding up. So a thirty-five-minute study is worth 2 points. You can also add one (1) point as a travel bonus if a student has to come to a campus location to complete the student. You can also add one (1) point as a scheduled meeting bonus if a student has to arrive at your REP study at a specified time either online or in-person.
When awarding points, consider the number of points as a "contract." If you say a study is worth 4 points, but the student finishes in less than two hours (4 points worth of time), please award 4 points as long as the effort was genuine. Please do not award fewer points than you have advertised because the student was quicker than most students.
Similarly, if a student takes significantly longer than usual, but the effort was genuine, not dawdling, award points for the amount of time taken even if it is more than advertised. If students routinely run over, you need to re-estimate the compensation offered by your study.
How to award cash awards?
Researchers are allowed to use the REP system to advertise cash only awards. If you are using the REP system to advertise your cash only study, please also indicate through the REP system if the participant completed the study and earned a cash award. You can go into the Participants or Seats menu to update participation and the award provided. Please enter the cash amount in dollars into the REP system.
When should points and cash awards be awarded?
Deadlines are set for submitting all REP points earned throughout the semester. These deadlines correspond to the days on which Psy 1001 has exams. All points must be entered by the published deadlines. This gives students a chance to track their progress.
For multi-part studies, you may wait to award points until the student has completed all parts, but also make it clear that if a student chooses to discontinue a study, they do so without penalty. Students earn the one point travel bonus for each part of an in-person, multi-part study they complete. If a student stops halfway through your study, you will need to give them partial points for the time they did participate. The student should confirm that they are discontinuing the study, but you may need to email them.
In online studies, if students withdraw from the study (if they don't answer all questions, for example) they should be given points for the amount of time they did spend. Your consent form should include some kind of explanation of partial credit (see below).
Issues:
Researchers who use the REP program to recruit participants, either for REP points or monetary compensation, may NOT withhold compensation due to failure to respond to "validity check" items (or due to failing similar tests, such as time to complete a task, etc.)
If a student shows up for a study and the researcher is absent or the study cannot be run for technical reasons, the student should be awarded the number of points he or she would otherwise have earned for participating. The student does not need to reschedule to complete the study later. However, if he or she wants to, they can sign up again and earn twice the points for this study
Please award 0 points if a student fails to show up for a study. This is useful both as feedback for students and for record-keeping. An email will be sent to the student politely asking them to cancel next time.
Please stick within your REP allotment as much as possible. Sometimes that task can be tricky but using the REP system to create seats, you should be able to monitor how many points you have used. However, please do not turn students away if they have signed up in good faith; do keep track of how many points you have awarded.