The Experimetrix Scheduling System

(Last updated: 2003/10/20)

The Experimetrix scheduling system is a software system that manages the Psyc 100 subject pool. Experimenters post their experiments on the Experimetrix website by using a web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape). Psyc 100 students view the posted experiments and enroll on an electronic sign-up form. Experimenters maintain records of student participation, assigning credits or penalties, from the website. Researchers are responsible for creating the sign-up form, and maintaining records of student participation. This document provides information to researchers to help them familiarize themselves with the system.

(Note: To get more information about the Application for Human Subjects, go to the following website: www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/hsrc/)

Once your application for Human Subjects has been approved, you will be given a logon and a password that will enable you to create electronic sign-up forms and maintain records from the Experimetrix website: www.experimetrix.com/umcp. If you go to the website, click on Experimenter. Area on the left side of the screen. In the Experimenter area you will have complete access to the information about your experiment that is displayed to students in the Psyc 100 subject pool. The experimenter area includes Edit Header, Add New Times, Set Authorization Code, Set Lead Time, and View Schedule among its options. To post your experiment, please follow, in order, these instructions:

HOW TO

Click on Edit Header option (this is under Manage Schedule).

HOW TO

Click on Add New Times option (this is under Manage Schedule).

Enter a date and start and finish time for the session. Repeat for each additional session.

If you make a mistake in your experiment schedule, you can correct it

By selecting the View Schedule option (this is under Manage Schedule).

When adding new times, if you see the following error message:

You are at the credit limit for this experiment. You can not add more times

it means that you have used all the credit hours that were awarded to you. You should request additional credit hours from the chair of Human Subjects Review (HSR) committee.

If a student signs up for your experiment from the Experimetrix system, an e-mail

confirmation will be sent to the student automatically.

This can be useful if you wish to restrict potential participants based on some known criteria. For example, if you previously performed mass testing and wish only to allow people who attained a particular score to participate in your experiment you could set an authorization code for your experiment and then provide that code only to people who meet your eligibility criteria.

HOW TO

Click on Set Authorization Code option (this is under Experiment Settings), and follow directions. Once you set up your authorization code, it is very important that you inform your participants of the authorization code because participants will be required to provide the code when they sign up for your experiment.

You may wish to prevent participants from signing up for your study just moments before it is scheduled to begin. You can specify a time, after which it will not be possible to sign up for a session.

HOW TO

Click on Set Lead Time option (this is under Experiment Settings)

Set the lead time and then Click Set Lead Time button

Click on View Schedule, and the page displays all the times in your schedule. If everything is satisfactory, check Display Experiment to Students so that students can view and sign-up for your experiment.

Be sure to read the next section about managing your experiment.

As participants participate in your experiment you will need to assign credits and penalties for their participation. From the View Schedule page you can see who has signed up for a particular appointment and you will also notice that as soon as a participant signs-up you are presented with the option to set their appointment to Pending or to Cancel. After the appointment start time has passed, you may Credit or Penalize the participant. Each commitment begins with Pending status. On the top of the View Schedule page, you may check: Only Show Sessions Pending Credit Assignment. If you do not check this option, you can see all participants who participated in your study regardless of whether or not you have already credited them. If you do check the option (the default), you will see only participants whose credits are pending.

After participants participate in your experiment you must assign them a Credit or Penalty as soon as possible. This is the only way participants can receive credit so it is important to give them their credit in a timely manner. It is important also to assign a penalty as soon as you can so that the participant will be eligible to participate in other experiments.

Once a participant signs up for an appointment in your experiment you will have the option to Cancel his or her appointment from the View Schedule page. This is a powerful option because it lets you cancel appointments subjects have made without notifying them or obtaining their permission. If you do use this option be sure that you and the subject have agreed to it beforehand. The intended use of the Cancel option is to allow experimenters to free up an appointment when a subject cancels by contacting the experimenter directly rather than by using the website. Note that an e-mail confirmation of the cancellation will be sent to the student automatically.

If you have a question or a problem with using Experimenter Area, please contact the webmaster (E-mail: hsrcwebmaster@psyc.umd.edu).