Research FAQs

Research involving human subjects begins with the Institutional Research Board (IRB).  The “IRB” or the "Institutional Review Board" means any board, committee, or other group formally designated by an institution to review, to approve the initiation of, and to conduct periodic review of, research involving human subjects. The primary purpose of such review is to assure the protection of the rights and welfare of the human subjects.

Research involving human subjects may not proceed until written approval is received by the investigator from the IRB. Investigators may submit a completed online IRB application through IRBManager, including consent document(s) and all supporting documents.

Exempt and Expedited Requests for IRB Review are usually processed within 10 business days.

For research needing Full review, investigators must submit an electronic copy to the IRB at irb@uccs.edu no later than ten (10) business days before the monthly IRB meeting. Typically Full reviews may take more than 25-50 business days to review and approve. The Board usually meets on the last Tuesday of the month during the academic calendar; summer meetings are scheduled if necessary.  The meeting schedule is available here. 

Please see the IRB FAQs for further direction: https://www.uccs.edu/osp/research-compliance/research-involving-human-subject-irb/irb-faq

CITI training is required for all researchers having direct contact with human subjects. Please document your CITI training number and completion date.  

Research and Ethics Compliance Training: https://about.citiprogram.org/en/homepage/

You may request a Sona account to assist with your research in the UCCS Psychology Department under the following conditions:

• You are a UCCS Psychology Department faculty or staff member -or-
• You are a student or research assistant sponsored by a UCCS Psychology Department faculty member 

New UCCS Psychology Department researchers must send a request to psych@uccs.edu for a Sona researcher account that includes the following:

• Name 
• CITI Training #  
• UCCS Email Address

For students, please add the following to the request:

• Degree Program (BA, MA or Phd)
• Psychology Faculty Mentor (if applicable) 

Sona is short for the name of a company called "Sona Systems," which provides web-based software that helps universities manage research study participation. The UCCS Psychology Department uses the Sona System to track participation in research. Using this system is also the best way that we can coordinate meetings between students and researchers for studies.

The URL for the UCCS Sona System is: https://uccs.sona-systems.com.

In your role as a researcher in the UCCS Psychology Department, please adhere to the following policy:

UCCS PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT PRINCIPLES, POLICIES, & PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCTING RESEARCH  & UTILIZING PSYCHOLOGY SUBJECT POOL Revised and Adopted November 11, 2015

Unfortunately, no. Research often calls for controlled variables, and researchers may restrict participation to people of a certain gender, age, or other characteristic. Other studies may require participants be invited to the study, or that have completed another particular research study prior. We strive to make enough experiments available for students year-round, but sometimes there are just not enough timeslots when everyone wants to participate. On the other hand, when there are many studies available, there may be a limited number of participants.

No, it is the participant's responsibility to assign the extra credit they have earned to the course that they would like the points allocated. All extra credit must either be assigned to the "Extra Credit Bank" or the course of choice no later than the day before finals begin each semester. Any points not assigned to the "Extra Credit Bank" or to a course will be permanently deleted from the system at the end of each semester. Please have participants email psych@uccs.edu with problems or issues assigning credit to courses or Extra Credit Bank.

Research extra credit is accepted in psychology courses based on an individual instructor's policy.  There are courses that require Sona participation such as PSY 1000. To learn about the extra credit policy for a specific course, please ask the instructor who teaches the course or contact Laura Chandler lchandl2@uccs.edu.

Prior to finals week, the Sona Administrator provides a report to all the Psychology instructors that accept extra credit in their courses. The extra credit points are calculated for the final course grade. It is the participant's responsibility to assign the extra credit they have earned to the course that they would like the points allocated.

The Sona Administrator provides the Sona extra credit reports to the Psychology instructors and teaching assistants. Sona and Canvas are two different systems. Sona credit will come across in Canvas at the end of the semester to be computed into final grades.

Please direct all Sona questions and issues to psych@uccs.edu.

Students under 18 years old in a Psychology course with a Sona extra credit requirement are to complete alternate research assignments. Please have student participants review their course syllabus or contact their professor for further guidance on the alternate research assignment in lieu of Sona participation.

If you are having problems using Sona, please review the following resources further:

Sona Researcher Documentation

Sona System Researcher Tutorial

Sona Administrator: Ms. Laura Chandler

The following protocol pertains to the three shared UCCS Psychology Department research rooms on the third floor of the Lane Center:

• LANE 362
• LANE 363
• LANE 364

“Researcher” is any faculty member or research assistant that can schedule these rooms through the UCCS Psychology Department Sona System.

If a researcher has an actual participant scheduled for a time‐slot:  

• There is no restriction how far into the future that room may be scheduled.  

If a researcher does not have an actual participant scheduled for a time‐slot:  

• A researcher may schedule a time‐slot without a participant up to 2 weeks in advance
   
• This may be scheduled more than 2 weeks if one or more of the following is true:
  • the intended participant is a community member (i.e., not a UCCS student)
  • the faculty member does not already have access to any Psychology Department research space of their own
  • the project for which the time‐slot is intended is currently funded by an external grant or contract through the Psychology Department
     
• Each of the circumstances above confers an additional two weeks of advanced scheduling for the researcher, even if a specific participant is not scheduled for a given time‐slot.
  • For example a faculty member who is recruiting community participants and has an external grant through the Psychology Department to fund the specific project may reserve time‐slots up to 6 weeks in advance without having a specific participant scheduled: 2 weeks in advance + 2 weeks for community members + 2 weeks for external funding through the Psychology Department.

How to Reserve a Lane Center Psychology Department Research Room

Students, Faculty & Staff can have their own Qualtrics accounts through UCCS.  Here is more information from the UCCS IT Help Desk:

https://www.uccs.edu/oit/services/teaching-and-learning-management/qualtrics

Here is the link to Qualtrics:

https://surveyuccs.co1.qualtrics.com/ControlPanel/

Login using your UCCS username and password.

It is possible to use Sona and Qualtrics for your research study and data collection. You can create (or modify) a study that will allow Sona to automatically credit participants upon completion of an external study.  To do this, researchers will need to modify their current study's configuration on both Sona and Qualtrics platforms.

Please following these instructions for automatic credit-granting in Sona after the approved Sona study and external Qualtrics study have been created:

External Study Credit Granting with Qualtrics

It is possible to use Sona and other survey platforms for your research study and data collection. You can create (or modify) a study that will allow Sona to automatically credit participants upon completion of an external study.  To do this, researchers will need to modify their current study's configuration on both Sona and the other survey platform.

SurveyMonkey: External Study Granting with SurveyMonkey

There are a number of ways to recruit participants for your Sona study.

Please contact Laura Chandler at lchandl2@uccs.edu with the study name, and a brief description of the study to broadcast the following ways:

• Psychology Department Facebook
• Psychology Department Undergraduate Email List
• Sona System Mass Email

Other ways to recruit participants:

• Flyers - Please ask your faculty or lab mentor for permission to use their research copy code in the Psychology Department to make flyers to post on the Columbine Hall bulletin boards.
• In-Class Announcements - Instructors can be asked if you may present in their class to ask for participants.
• Online Class Announcements - Instructors and Teaching Assistants can be asked to post recruitment announcements in Canvas. 

Our research affiliates have various guidelines for accessing their subject pools. Please contact them directly:

Gerontology Center
Trauma Health & Hazards Center