Sona Information for Researchers
SONA WEBSITE: http://ubco.sona-systems.com/
A faculty member wanting to use the Sona system should email a request to have their name added to the system as a researcher. The current Sona coordinator is Dr. Paul Davies.
If applicable, include the name of any student(s) who will be working with you and their email contact information (note: email addresses must be appropriate, as they are representative of the department). Student accounts will be set up with the supervising faculty member's name attached (e.g., Jane Doe/Dr. J. Snyder). This is not the faculty member's account.
- It is very important to set the faculty member's account separately from the student's account. If the study is set up with the researcher as Jane Doe/Dr. J. Snyder only, the faculty member will not have access to the study site. Faculty members must have direct access to the study because they are responsible for supervising all activities on the site. Furthermore, unless the faculty member's account is created separately, the study will be deleted when the associated student accounts are deleted.
Faculty members are completely responsible for all activity by research assistants and student researchers associated with their Sona accounts. Thus, only supervisors can make requests for (i) activation/reactivation on a student account or (ii) study visibility on Sona. Furthermore, students must interact only with thier supervisors (and not with the Sona administrator) when problems arise, or for information purposes.
When ethics approval is granted for the study in question, the faculty member will provide the Sona coordinator with a hard copy of the ethics certificate for the research project/program.
When the faculty member is ready to make the study public, the faculty member will request approval via their (not their student's) account. This can be achieved by clicking on "Study Info" in Sona, where the "study status" may be found. Therein, if the study is not currently approved, will read the status "Not visible to participants (not approved) - [Send a Request] to have this study approved". Clicking on the "[Send a Request]" button will alert the Sona coordinator to approve the study for visibility. Once the study is approved an approval email will be sent to the faculty member who sent the request.
- Any changes made to the study by a student researcher, other than timeslot changes, will result in the study being inactivated. The faculty member will be required to request re-activation, and include in the request the details of the change that resulted in the deactivation.
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Last reviewed 
9/27/2011 12:54:57 PM
