The Department administers this research participation through a Committee on the Use of Human Subjects which screens all research to assure that researchers conform with ethical procedures and that they contribute to your educational experience. Your participation as a research subject in psychology experiments is voluntary. Although this participation has no bearing on your in-class grade, it is a departmental course requirement. Should you choose not to volunteer for the experiments, alternative projects are available. You should notify your instructor right away if you plan to work on alternate projects rather than participate in experiments.
Most students find participation in research fun as well as informative.
You may, however, elect to do an optional project instead of participating in experiments. Such a project will usually involve library or media research requiring about the same net time as research participation. Second, you should be aware that you are free to leave any experiment AT ANY TIME if you find yourself uncomfortable or unhappy with the experimental situation. There is absolutely no penalty to you for leaving an experiment under such circumstances, and you will be given credit for the time spent in the experiment. Last, some experiments will involve certain sensitive topic areas or some form of deception as to the precise goals of the study.