FAQ

There are several possibilities:

If you don't have an account yet, or if you forgot your password, go to the main SONA page, and on the right side, click the appropriate link. Please note that it may take a short while for you to receive your password (10 minutes or even longer). It will not be immediate!

You may have requested multiple accounts. Each participant is allowed to have only one account. You must use your WSU AccessID to log in (e.g., xx0000). You are allowed to designate whatever email address you want once you have logged in to SONA, but your password will initially be sent to your WSU email address. Also, even if you do change your email address in your SONA profile, you will always continue to log in using your AccessID. Finally, SONA may take a couple of days to set up an account for you and to email you your password, so be patient. Nothing is wrong! -- You should NOT attempt to set up additional accounts for yourself. This causes problems in SONA and you won't get the credits you deserve.

Make sure you're at waynecomm.sona-systems.com, not waynecomm.sona-system.com. It's a difference of just one little "s" but it's not the right page (it looks like it COULD be the right page, but it's not).

If you have missed more than one research appointment, you are locked out of the system for the remainder of the semester, and must get your extra credit by some other method. Speak to your instructor if you don't know what this alternate method is. Note that you also will not be allowed back into the system to reallocate your credits.

All participants are locked out of the system each semester at noon on Study Day. Access is granted again on the first day of the following semester.

Try a different computer. We don't understand why (probably something to do with firewalls or other settings), but this often works.

Your web browser is not properly configured to accept cookies. You should turn on cookies in your web browser, use a different web browser (for example, try Firefox if you are currently using Internet Explorer), or try a different computer. Detailed instructions can be found if you go to the site and enter the url "cookie_help.asp" in place of "default.asp" in the address bar of the browser, when you are on the front page of the site.

The researcher must grant you credit. This is usually done shortly after your participation. If it has been some time and you have still not received credit, contact the researcher.

Only the researcher and principal investigator of the study may see that you have signed up for it, along with the subject pool administrator. No other users, including other researchers, may see this information.

Provide an Alternate Email address and notifications will be sent there. See the Email Address Options section of this documentation for more information.

You can do this anytime. At initial log-in, when you're telling SONA what class you're in, you can select more than one by holding down the "Ctrl" or "Apple" key on your keyboard. You can also do it at any later time, by clicking "My Profile" and then "Change Courses." Now you're back at the same kind of screen as before. Just make sure you hold down the Ctrl or Apple key to select more than one class.

You can't. Locked out means locked out.

No. Credits can only be used during the semester in which they were earned. Credits and their course assignments are frozen at noon on Study Day. They are erased about a week later.

Check your course schedule on Academica to see what section number you are in. If you still can't determine it then check with your instructor. If this is not the problem, send an email to vulteef@wayne.edu

You selected the wrong course or section.

Some studies of this type specifically ask for you to contact them in order to get the code. Obviously if they want you to contact them, they will have given you instructions about how to do so -- See the Information page for that particular study. However, for most invitation-code studies, invitation codes are sent to eligible participants. If you have not received a code, it means you are not eligible. Do not send the investigator emails; it will not help.

Only if you actually did the study. Contact the researcher who mistakenly gave you the no-show. If it was truly their error, they will reverse it. Please note, though, that if you failed to show up for your appointment but did not cancel it ahead of time, it does not matter how valid your excuse may be. Department policy is very clear on this -- you are supposed to cancel your appointment if you will not be able to show up.

We understand that true emergencies sometimes come up. That is why you are allowed one no-show without penalty. The second no-show means that you can no longer participate in research studies for the remainder of the semester.

SONA credit totals are not automatically linked to Blackboard or other web sites, so your first order of business should be to check with your instructor. Then, if it does appear that there is a discrepancy, and if it is not past noon on Study Day, send an email to vulteef@wayne.edu along with your name and all course and section numbers (the section numbers are crucial).

If it is after noon on Study Day, you are out of luck. Instructors and students are told to check this frequently throughout the semester, so that errors can be caught before Study Day.

If it is after noon on Study Day, no. If you have been locked out for no-shows, no. Otherwise, yes.

Which studies show up in your list depends on several things: The number of studies being conducted currently; whether those studies have available time-slots; the requirements those studies may have; and whether or not you answered the pre-screen, and what your answers were. Studies will only show up in your list if you are eligible to sign up for them and if they have time-slots available.

View the My Schedule and Credits page and any non-study credit will also be listed there. See the Tracking Your Progress section of this documentation for more information.

Researchers can choose if their studies allow you to participate more than once. Not all studies allow you to participate more than once.

If you have signed up for a study that has disqualifiers (studies you must not have participated in to participate in that study), you may not then sign up for the studies that are listed as the disqualifier studies. You are allowed to sign up for the disqualifier studies if the disqualifier study will take place after the study with disqualifiers, or if you have already participated in (and received credit for) the study with disqualifiers. The easiest way to sign up for both studies is to schedule the disqualifier study at a time later than the study with disqualifiers.