Subject Pool Participants

Some undergraduate courses in the Department of Educational Psychology have a Subject Pool course requirement. Current courses with a Subject Pool requirement are:

• EDP 304 (Strategic Learning for the 21st Century),
• EDP 306 (Human Sexuality & Relationships),
• EDP 350E (Introduction to Life Span Development),
• EDP 350G (Adolescent Development),
• EDP 350L (Human Sexuality), and
• EDP 371 (Introduction to Statistics).

The Subject Pool requirement applies to all students enrolled in these courses, including those taking them on a pass/fail basis.

Knowledge in the social, behavioral and education sciences advances through quality research involving humans. The Subject Pool enables researchers—EDP faculty and graduate students—to conduct studies that we hope will ultimately benefit others in society. The importance of your assistance in this research and our appreciation for your participation cannot be overstated.

We also hope that serving as a participant in research benefits you as well. Through participation in a study, you have the opportunity to gain a firsthand understanding of research processes. This understanding is useful in both your EDP coursework and in evaluating and interpreting the increasing use of social and behavioral research throughout our culture.

In accordance with guidelines for the ethical treatment of participants, participating in any particular study is voluntary. Even once you’ve given consent to participate and begun a study, you can choose to stop participating at any time. For students who opt out of study participation, there is an alternate assignment that also allows you to learn about research and that takes about the same amount of time to fulfill the subject pool requirement.

Participant’s Rights:

• Choosing to participate in a research study (by completing the Subject Pool registration process) to fulfill the Subject Pool requirement does not commit you to participate in the study that you chose. At any time, you may choose to opt out of study participation and complete the Alternate Assignment instead.
• At the time the study is conducted, you will be given a consent form that describes the nature of the study. You may decline to participate in the particular study upon reading the form.
• In addition, once the study is underway, you have the right to cease participation in the study at any time without penalty should you feel uncomfortable with the study’s procedures or for any other reason.
• If you choose not to participate in the study at any point, you may complete the Alternate Assignment instead.

Additional information is available via the Bill of Rights for Research Participants and Information for Research Participants by the Office of Research Support and Compliance. 

To fulfill your Subject Pool requirement, you must participate in research studies that total 5 credits. You will receive 1 credit for taking the mandatory pre-screening survey. You will then have the opportunity to choose from a list of available studies to earn the remaining 4 credits. Or if you prefer not to participate in research studies, you may fulfill the requirement by completing the Alternate Assignment (see below).

Studies will be available on the EDP Subject Pool management system on September 21, 2022. IMPORTANT: A participant account will be created for you within the first 2 weeks of the semester if you were registered by the first day of class. If you registered after the first day of class, you must contact the Subject Pool Coordinator to have your account added. Once your account is created, your User ID and a temporary password will be emailed to you. Be sure to check your junk/spam folder if you do not receive this email within the first two weeks of the semester.

The subject pool will close on April 10, 2023—approximately two weeks before the last day of class—so as not to interfere with the end-of-semester crunch of assignments and tests. Some studies may conclude before this date – you must meet the individual study deadline in order to receive credit for that study.

If you prefer not to participate in studies, or if you do not earn the required number of study credits by the study completion deadline, you will need to complete the Alternate Assignment. This assignment is a written review of related research. The time needed to complete the assignment will be approximately the same as that for the research study participation.

Alternate assignments will be posted on this webpage on March 20, 2023, and will be due April 24, 2023, by 11:59 PM. Late submissions will not be accepted. 

Download the alternate assignment

Students who fail to earn five study credits by April 10, 2023, or do not submit the written alternate assignment by April 24, 2023, will receive an “incomplete” instead of a grade in their EDP subject-pool-required course(s) for this semester.

Have questions about the Subject Pool requirement? Please do not ask your instructor — contact the Subject Pool Coordinator, Khoa Tran. Please be sure to allow 1-2 business days for a response, due to the number of emails received.