FAQ for Study Particpants

Sona Systems - Participant Tutorial Video

You can create a SONA-account at http://unihamburg.sona-systems.com/. In the left corner, consider the "Request account here" button. Enter your own first name (e.g. Max), last name (e.g. Mustermann), your user ID (e.g. Max.Mustermann) and your e-mail address. Enter your degree in the course (Bachelor / Diplom, MCI, minor, or not a member of the Institute of Psychology).

After checking your data once again, click on "Request account". You will shortly receive an email with your access data. If you have not received an email, you can check your spam folder as it sometimes happens that the email ends up there.

When you received your access data please change your password at “My profile”. For that, you need to enter your current password. Afterwards, you enter your new password and confirm it by repeated input. In order to change your password, click on the button “Update”. Treat your SONA-password strictly confidential. Furthermore, your SONA-password should not be identical to your STINE-password.

Log on to your SONA-account and go to the start page. Click on “Studies” or “Study Sign-up”. A list with all currently ongoing studies at the Institute of Psychology, for which you can register, occurs. In the study list you find the amount of trial hours that are given for participation. Furthermore, you can inform yourself if the study takes place online and if there are special requirements for attending (e.g. right-handed).

If you click on “Timeslots available” or the title of a study you will be redirected to the description of the study. Here you find some information regarding the study procedure as well as contact details. To sign up for the study, click on “View Time Slots for this Study”. There you find all accessible time slots as well as the location of the study. Click on „Sign Up“ to register for an appointment. Do not forget that participation is binding as soon as you signed up for the study. The researchers expect you to appear on the arranged appointment.

In case you signed up for an online study, you will be redirected to the website “Study Sign Up Completed” after clicking on “Sign Up”.
Here you must click on “Complete Survey Now” for being redirected to the online survey

If you do not have time for an appointment for which you have registered in SONA, you can unsubscribe from the study ("My Schedule / Credits"> "Cancel").

If you have to cancel at very short notice (less than 12 or 24 hours before the appointment, depending on the settings of the study), an official cancellation is no longer available because the appointment is imminent and is considered confirmed. If, for compelling reasons (e.g. illness), you still cannot appear on the agreed date, please contact the researchers immediately at the email address or telephone number given in the study description.

If you miss appointments arranged by SONA unexcused more than two times, your SONA account will be blocked. In that case, direct towards the SONA-team (sonateam"AT"uni-hamburg.de). The SONA team informs the head of the institute if participants are blocked because of repeated unexcused missing of study appointments.

Of the required trial hours, maximally 30% can be acquired through online studies. Once you collected the maximal possible amount of online trial hours, it is no longer possible to sign up for further online studies at SONA.

ATTENTION major and minor students:
Because of the current situation, students at the 4th semester who want to complete the module EEP (empirical experimental internship) during the summer semester 2020, as well as students at the last semester, are allowed to acquire up to 100% of the trial hours online.
For that, please contact the academic office which forwards a confirmation to the SONA-team. All other students can acquire up to 60% of the trial hours online. The regulation applies until 30 September 2021 for the moment.

Yes. For that, you have to set up a SONA-account for non-members of the Institute of Psychology at http://unihamburg.sona-systems.com/.
Click on “Request an account here”. Then, enter your user information. Under course you enter “non-members of the Institute of Psychology“.
In order to get a proof about your collected trial hours you have to print the page “My Schedule/Credits” and send it to the academic office of the Intitute of Psychology (Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg; E-Mail: andrea.windisch"AT"uni-hamburg.de ). You get the signed print with the stamp of the institute as a proof.

The trial hours you receive for participation in a study comply with the actual duration of your participation. The expected duration and number of trial hours is given in the study description. If your participation lasts actually longer than stated in the description the examiner is allowed to allocate more trial hours to you. If your participation lasts actually shorter than stated in the description the examiner is allowed to allocate less trial hours to you. If you cancel a study prematurely you get the number of trial hours corresponding to the duration of your participation.

As soon as you participated in a study, a message is sent to the SONA account of the responsible person with the content that they have to credit your trial hours at SONA. As a rule, this should happen within a few days. If you did not receive any trial hours at SONA after one week, please contact the researchers under the address given in the study description.
The entry into Stine is a separate operation.

As a confirmation of your VP hours, you can get the signed and stamped Sona printout of your VP hours from the institute. Please print the list of your completed VP hours from your account (under "My Schedule / Credits") and thus come to the open office hours of PD Dr. Timur Sevincer (Tue 16: 00-17: 00, von-Melle-Park 5, R4066, email: timur.sevincer@uni-hamburg.de)(timur.sevincer"AT"uni-hamburg.de).

At “My Schedule/Credits” you see how many trial hours you have already achieved and how many are needed altogether. Moreover, you find a list of all studies you took part in here.

When you have achieved the full amount of your trial hours, please print out the page “My Schedule/Credits” from SONA and put it into the letterbox of the academic office (VMP 5, between room 4092 and room 4093). Please note: trial hours are only credited at Stine if you are enrolled to the EEP (empirical experimental internship) module. As a rule, this is usually from the 3rd semester onwards the case. All trial hours certificates in paper form that were issued before the 30 April 2010 remain valid.  As a proof for the examination administration, please bring your old trial hours certificates as well as the SONA-printout with you.

If you have a problem concerning your SONA-account please contact the SONA-team (sonateam"AT"uni-hamburg.de).
The SONA-team consists of employees from different subject groups of the Institute of Psychology. They work for SONA voluntarily among other duties in research and teaching.  Please consider this voluntary engagement in communication with the SONA-team. The team assists in making the participation in experiments, recruitment of test subjects as well as the allocation of trial hours fairer and easier for all members of the institute.

Accounts of students are deleted as soon as students are exmatriculated or, at the latest, 3 years after the last login.

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