Participant Pool

• Formation and regulations
• Classes enrolled this semester (200510)
• Current studies
• Previous semesters (incomplete)

The following motion was passed at the CS Department meeting on Wednesday, December 5, 2001. With the support of the local Research Ethics Board (REB), instructors have been able to offer the research credit to students since January of 2002. Daryl Hepting is the Participant Pool Coordinator (you may contact him if you have any questions).

• The purpose of the Participant Pool is to provide students with the opportunity to participate in research related to the concepts that they study and to provide informatics researchers (from the Computer Science Department unless otherwise noted) with fair access to participants.
• Instructors teaching any undergraduate CS course may choose to enroll their course section(s) in the Participant Pool. Enrollment shall be done on a semester by semester basis, only at the discretion of the instructor, by notifying the Participant Pool Coordinator in writing. If an instructor of a course that has multiple sections wishes to enroll his or her section of the course, instructors of the other sections of that course shall be encouraged but not required to enroll their sections as well.
• Instructors teaching undergraduate courses that have an informatics-related theme, though offered by other academic units, may choose to enroll their course section(s). Participation of other academic units in this way would qualify researchers from those academic units to access the Participant Pool for their research.
• Researchers who wish to use the Participant Pool must have permission from the Participant Pool Coordinator and approval from the REB.
• Any class enrolled in the Participant Pool shall offer students a “research credit,” which is equivalent to at most 2 percentage points towards their final grade in that course. This research credit must be treated as a bonus above the normal evaluation of their work in the class. To earn this research credit, a student must participate in 1 or 2 hours of research activities. 1 percentage point of credit is earned for each hour (or part thereof) of participation. Students may not earn research credit in different courses for the same research participation. Students not wishing to participate directly in research activities shall have the option of an alternative means to gain this research credit. Students wishing to avail themselves of this option shall notify the Participant Pool Coordinator, in writing, within two weeks of the beginning of the semester.
• Alternative means of gaining research credit shall be limited to the following 2 methods, detailed in the following text. Students may either assist with the execution of a study or submit short paper(s).
• A researcher must choose to provide opportunities for students to gain research credit by assisting with the execution of a study. If a researcher decides to do this, details must be provided in advance, in writing, to the Participant Pool Coordinator. As with regular research participation, students who choose this option will earn 1 percentage point of credit for each hour (or part thereof) of assistance, to a maximum of 2 percentage points.
• Students may choose to prepare a 3-4 page report (12 point font, single-spaced, 1 inch margins) that reviews a published research study. A researcher using the Participant Pool must provide the Coordinator with a list of publications from which students may choose one as the basis for their report. In this way, the reports are linked to a particular research project. Students shall explain, in their own words, the research questions, methods, and conclusions of the study and discuss the strengths and weaknesses its methodology. An accepted report shall earn 1 percentage point of credit. Unacceptable reports shall be returned for revision. A student must write 2 such reports to earn the full research credit for a course. The Participant Pool Coordinator shall oversee the evaluation of these reports.
• Research credit shall only be available in semesters that have active research projects. In semesters with no active research projects, the research credit for any course in the Participant Pool shall not be available solely through alternative means.
• In addition to the administration of the Participant Pool, the Participant Pool Coordinator shall be responsible for the advertisement of the Participant Pool to students and faculty.

Current semester (2005 Winter - 200510)

• CS110 (John Quesnel)
• CS270 (Janine Bernat)
• CS270 (Terry Peckham)
• CS230 (Dr. Hepting)
• CS330 (Dr. Hamilton)
• CS400 (Dr. Gerhard)

Tim Maciag, a graduate student in Computer Science, under the supervision of Daryl Hepting, is looking for 48 people to participate in a software user study. This project has received ethics approval from Research Ethics Board. The study involves the comparison of decision support tools for the purchase of environmentally preferable cleaning products.  Participants will be asked to complete a pre-task questionnaire, to perform tasks with 3 separate software-based tools, and complete a post-task questionnaire. The study should take no longer than 1 hour (meaning that you will be eligible for 1 research credit). To participate, please send an e-mail to hci@cs.uregina.ca, indicating your preferred times.

Greg Kratzig, graduate student in psychology, is looking for 35 participants for a study beginning January 17. The study has been approved by the research ethics board (REB). Participants will be presented with 90 synonym word-pairs to study for later recall test. Of these, 30 pairs are computer science terms, 30 pairs are psychology, and 30 pairs are netural. Each pair will be displayed for three seconds. After each word-pair is presented the participants will make learning judgments for each of the word-pairs. Each item will require the participants to rate how confident they would be to recall the second word of the word-pair, when the first word is presented on a memory test. Responses will be made on a sliding scale ranging from 0-100. Using a computer keyboard the participants will be given three options to choose from: study now, study later, and done. If the study now option was chosen, the word-pair will be presented immediately again for 3 seconds. If the study later option was selected then the word-pair will be presented for 3 seconds, but only after the original 90 word-pairs are presented. If the done option is selected then the word-pair would not be shown again at all. After the entire word-pair list has been presented there will be a 15 minute pairity task consisting of digits 1 through 9. when the distracter task has been completed a cued recall test in which the first word of the word-pair is presented. The participants task will be to type in the correct second word. At the end of the study the student will complete the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (I/E). The whole study will take approx. 60 minutes to complete. If you are interested in participating, English is your first language and you have normal vision (with or without glasses), please contact Greg at kratgreg@uregina.ca to arrange an appointment. The location of the study will be Campion 514, and will begin on Monday January 17th.

Name of Researcher: Luke Jackiw Supervisor: Dr. K. Arbuthnott e-mail: Luke_j18@hotmail.com Phone: 306-359-1255 Title of Research: Assessing memory for faces Description of Research: Participants will study photographs of 12 target faces, and will then attempt to identify these faces from among ?line-ups? of 6 photographs, some of which will contain a studied face, and some of which won?t. Twenty-four such line-ups will be presented. After each line-up, participants will rate the confidence in their selection on a 7-point scale. Following this, participants will complete a 6-item questionnaire of their demographic information (e.g., age, gender), and a 26-item Social Experience Questionnaire. Location of Research: Campion College, 5th floor, room 500 Duration of Research Session: 1ž2 hour Participant Requirements: Participants must have normal (or normal with glasses) vision, speak English as their first language, and be at least 18 years of age. Sufficient Caucasian participants have been recruited, now I am only testing minority ethnicities (i.e., First Nations, Asian, Hispanic etc) Please contact me at luke_j18@hotmail.com if you are interested in participating. Include in your e-mail a time that is convenient for you. If you schedule a time, please make sure to show up at the arranged time. I am available to test every half hour on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am in need of approximately 30 participants. Space is limited, so sign up quickly. Thank you, Luke Jackiw

Fall 2004 - 200430

Classes

• CS100 (John Quesnel)
• CS110 (Dr. Chan)
• CS270 (Janine Bernat)
• CS305 (Orland Hoeber)
• CS310 (Dr. Yang)
• CS325 (Dr. Hepting)
• CS330 (Dr. Hepting)
• CS350 (Terry Peckham)
• CS420 (Dr. Slezak)

Studies

Evaluation of Cleaning Products Purchasing Decision Wizards

Dr. Daryl Hepting is conducting an evaluation of product purchasing decision wizards and is looking for participants. Through the CS Department participant pool, you can earn a research credit towards your final grade in this class. The project has been approved by the Research Ethics Board, University of Regina. Participation will require about 45 minutes of your time. You will be asked to complete a pre-task questionnaire, 3 tasks using different interfaces to a purchasing decision application, and a post-task questionnaire. You will not be required to identify yourself on any study materials and all your responses will be kept confidential. If you have any questions about the study, you may contact Dr. Hepting. To partcipate (if you haven't already participated in this study), please send an e-mail to: hci@cs.uregina.ca with your preferred times for participation and you will be contacted in order to confirm a time. 24 participants are being sought for this study.