Research Participants
Participating in research for extra credit
As one option for receiving extra credit in this course you may participate in research studies through the Department of Communication Research Participant Pool. These projects may include surveys, experiments, or pilot tests of future texts or videos. In order to receive extra credit for this course you do not have to participate in research studies. If you decide not to participate your instructor will have other opportunities available to you of equal course value.
As a general rule, students are awarded extra credit for their voluntary participation in research studies. An appropriate maximum for extra credit attributable to all research participation (or their direct substitute assignments) for a class is 3% of the final grade. Credit for participating in a research project cannot be applied to more than one class. Points awarded for participation in research will reflect the amount of time spent in a study and assigned as follows:
| Study lasts | Research credit units awarded | Course credit |
| Under 30 minutes | 0.5 | .5% of final grade points |
| 30 - 59 minutes | 1 | 1% of final grade points |
| 60 - 89 minutes | 1.5 | 1.5% of final grade points |
| 90 - 120 minutes | 2 | 2% of final grade points |
Therefore if a student participated in a study expected to last 45 minutes and was in a class with 1000 total points for the class, the student would earn 10 points for participation in the study. Some studies, where participants must travel to a research laboratory at a particular time, may offer an additional 0.5 research credit units, but this will be determined by the researcher and included in the study description. Instructors will have more information about how many credits (through participation in communication experiments or other tasks) are required for the course, or will be allowed for extra credit.
All Wayne State University Communication research experiments are set-up via an online system. You MUST access this system if you wish to be able to participate in communication research. To access this research system, and to enroll yourself as a user for this system:
- Go to http://waynecomm.sona-systems.com
- From there, click on "Request an account here" located in the upper right portion of the screen.