Researchers in the Psychology Department can recruit participants from PSYC 1001, 1002, 2001, 2002, and from NEUR 2001, 2002 through the SONA system. These students can earn a maximum of 4% towards their final mark in each of these courses. Because we want the students to gain knowledge about research, it is important that researchers who recruit from the participant pool provide a debriefing that is as informative as possible.

Researchers in the Institute of Cognitive Science can recruit participants from CGSC 1001. These students can earn a maximum of 4% towards their final mark in each of these courses.

Researchers must use SONA to recruit student participants within Psychology or Cognitive Science.

If participants are being recruited by email or through social media for your study, describe how notifications and reminders to participate will proceed (i.e., specify the email program or social media website that will be used).

Note: You must use an email client program (e.g., Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird) rather than a web-based email program (e.g., Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo) and you must use your official University email address for all communications.

Social media sites have their own regulations about who owns the content posted on their websites. If using social media, you must describe to the REB which site you will be using and what their policies are regarding data storage and ownership. As with all recruitment methods, you must submit to the REB copies of all your recruitment materials whether they are ads, emails, or posters.

Yes. Approval from both CUREB and the outside organization (e.g., businesses, hospitals, schools, prisons) are needed. Some organizations require ethics approval from Carleton before giving approval from the organization. As each case is unique, we encourage you to contact the Research Ethics and Compliance Office for guidance on how to proceed.

Note: Your Carleton Ethics clearance is always conditional on securing clearance from the other organization. Conditional approval does not permit researchers to collect data. Final approval will be granted once a copy of that outside approval, scanned and uploaded, as an addendum to a conditionally approved protocol has been processed by the REB. Final ethics clearance must be obtained before any data are collected.

You cannot proceed with your project until it has been cleared by one of the Research Ethics Boards and you have received a clearance certificate via email.

When children or adults of limited cognitive capacity participate in research, researchers must secure the assent of the potential participant as well as the permission of the parent or guardian (in place of the consent of the participant). The assent process should involve taking the time to explain to the participant what will happen in the study, why the study is being done, what will be done to the participants, and that, if they object, the research will be terminated and the participant will not be punished or scolded. The assent must be provided in a language that the participants can understand, while communicating the essential elements of consent without obscuring the important information in a lot of detail. The greater the cognitive capacity of the participant, the greater the amount of information that should be shared.

The assent information can be presented orally or in writing, depending on the literacy level of the participants. When using assent, parents and guardians must sign a permission form rather than a consent form. If a participant refuses to participate, even if a parent has signed the permission form, the research will not take place.