Research Component.  Psychology is a science.  The principles that students learn from textbooks and in psychology courses were derived from scientific research.  To enhance the students’ understanding of the research process in psychology, they are required to satisfy a research component as a part of Introduction to Psychology.  Failure to meet the research requirements fully and on time will result in a grade of Incomplete for the course.  The student must complete the required number of credits in order to have the appropriate letter grade assigned.

Students are required to earn two (2) research credits.  Students may earn credit by any of the following means, in any combination: 1) The student may volunteer to serve as a research participant in an approved study being conducted by Western Kentucky University Psychology or Psychological Sciences faculty or students.  2) The student may complete a written research summary of a published article from an approved psychology journal.  3) The student may propose or ask for an equivalent alternative, which must be approved in advance by the Study Board Administrator (StudyBoard@WKU.edu).  An account on the Department’s Experiment Management System ( http://www.wku.edu/psychological-sciences/studyboard/) will be established for each student at the beginning of the semester.  The system will automatically email each student with the login information.  This website handles all research scheduling and credit administration. Only credits for which you register online will count toward research credit.

Credits are earned accordingly. Each 15 minutes of research participation is worth one (1) credit.  There are studies listed on the website with credits that vary from one to eight or more.  Study Board credit may also be earned through an alternative assignment in which a student takes article quizzes.  For information about this alternative assignment, see http://www.wku.edu/psychological-sciences/studyboard/students/article_quizzes.php. Your instructor will inform you how class credit will be assigned from the research credits earned.

Students who fail to show up for a study session or fail to show up promptly at the scheduled time of the session without first notifying the researcher of these changes will be classified as “no-shows”. This behavior creates substantial difficulties in meeting both the educational and research goals of the Study Board. There is a limit of two (2) “no-shows” for each student.  After the second “no-show”, a student will not be allowed to participate in research studies for the current semester.  Such students will be allowed to earn Study Board credits through the alternative assignment. Note that the number of credits earned through the alternative assignment may be limited to the number you are required to earn.

Complete information about research participation, research credits, and the Study Board can be found at  http://www.wku.edu/psychological-sciences/studyboard/.

Updated August 14, 2015.