Introduction

Applying for an Account

SONA accounts are available for all FSW students and employees.

• First year Psychology and Child and Educational studies students are automatically given accounts at the start of the year (around September - October), if you have not received an email about this, please contact: proefpersonen@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

• Staff and (non-first year) students, for a Participant, Researcher or Principal Investigator account: send an email including at least your: position (e.g. master student, PhD candidate, Associate Professor), studentnumber (if applicable) or ULCN name and university, to proefpersonen@fsw.leidenuniv.nl See also the information on the SONA welcome page for more details. Please note that Researcher and PI roles can only be given to staff of the FSW (Social Sciences) Faculty.

• Externals (non-student / staff), can make their own Participant accounts on the SONA website.

Starting with SONA

If you are new to SONA and/or haven't used it for some, please make sure to:

• Carefully read through the SONA Rules before you participate in or make a study
• If needed, consult the Researcher Manual and the F.A.Q. section for information on setting up and managing studies.
• Watch some of our instruction videos if you need more guidance (t.b.a.)

Students

All first-year students of the bachelors Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences are obliged to participate in scientific research for their first-year course Academic Skills Tutorial. Therefore, each student has to obtain 16 participation credits which will be granted through SONA. In general, one credit corresponds with spending half an hour as a participant in scientific research organized by members of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. When students have obtained all 16 credits, they can still participate in the experiments but will instead receive monetary compensation.

Students will also make use of the SONA system in order to carry out the research for their bachelor/master thesis. To do so, students have to request a researcher account which allows them to set up and manage a study. By using a researcher account credits can be granted to the participants.

Researchers

SONA is used by researchers as a recruiting and management tool for their current studies. For all students and PhD candidates Researcher accounts will suffice. For other academic staff such as professors, a Principal Investigator account will be created by the administrators

External Participants

SONA is also used by external participants, i.e., students who are not enrolled in a programme organised by Psychology/Education and Child Studies or simply participants who are not affiliated to Leiden University. External participants can create an account themselves on the SONA website. These participants receive monetary rewards, but make use of SONA because of the time slot management and recruitment purposes. Granting monetary rewards takes place outside of SONA.

Support and advice

• If you have an account, and have any questions regarding SONA, please first check the F.A.Q. section,
• For any remaining questions or issues please contact: proefpersonen@fsw.leidenuniv.nl