Sona Information: Conducting online studies
SONA WEBSITE: http://ubco.sona-systems.com/
Online surveys are useful when research requires data collection from a large sample, and are beneficial because they
- Consume less resources, such as time and money
- Allow many people to participate at the same time
- Assure greater confidentiality than in-person (i.e., on-site) surveys
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Sona Survey Provider |
External Survey Provider: Survey Monkey |
External Survey Provider: Remark |
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Pros: |
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Data remain in Canada
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√ |
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√ |
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Easy process of assigning credit to participants |
√ |
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Skip pattern is allowed
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√ |
√ |
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Copy-paste from a Word document into question templates is allowed |
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√ |
√ |
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Wide variety of formats, page set-ups, and question types |
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√ (highest flexibility) |
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Participants can save responses mid-way and complete later |
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√ |
√ |
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Randomization of questionnaire sections is available |
√ (but limited) |
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Cons: |
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Additional fees required
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X |
X (much more expensive) |
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Confidentiality issues due to the U.S. Patriot Act |
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X |
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Other comments to consider: |
* A free account is available but it is very basic and allows a limited number of responses |
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There are two main alternatives to consider when deciding which online survey provider to use, each of which offers unique benefits as listed in the table above
Using Sona as your survey provider
Using an external survey provider (e.g., Survey Monkey, Remark)
Using Sona as your survey provider
For information regarding informed consent, see the section below regarding Introductory Text in Sona surveys. Similarily, for information regarding debriefing when using Sona as the survey provider, see the section below regarding Closing Text.
To create a survey, first create an online survey study. The option "Update Online Survey" will then become available when viewing the study information. Sona does not accommodate 2-part online survey studies.
It is important to note that while making changes to a survey, it is deactivated so participants may not participate in it. The "Finalize Survey" option will provide an opportunity to save any changes made to the survey in the current session, after the changes have been completed, and to make the survey active (available to participants) or inactive (not available to participants). The "Finalize Survey" option should always be chosen after finishing work with the survey, as the system saves all changes and computes some other important data when you finalize the survey. If work on the survey is to be completed at a later time, the "Finalize Survey" option should still be chosen to ensure changes made during the current session are properly saved (the survey may be kept inactive at this point).
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Field |
Description |
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Optional. Provide a set of text that will be displayed when a participant starts the survey. You may include HTML in this area, but please be sure you know what you are doing. If you would like to add a carriage-return (paragraph break), simply type in “<p>” (without the quotes). When you first create the online survey, the system will automatically insert some basic default text in this area. You may change any of this text as much as you like – the system will not change it back later as long as you save your changes. This is a good place to place any text for informed consent purposes. You may view how this text is displayed to participants by saving it, then going to Preview Introductory Text, which is available from the Section List page. |
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Optional. Provide a set of text that will be displayed after a participant completes the survey and saves their responses. This is an ideal place for debriefing information. You may include HTML in this area, but please be sure you know what you are doing. If you would like to add a carriage-return (paragraph break), simply type in “<p>” (without the quotes). |
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Randomization |
You may specify a specific ordering for sections, have the system randomize the order for all sections, or specify the order of some sections, and a random order for other sections. If you specify the order for only some sections, you may also specify, for each section, whether it should be displayed before or after the random ordered sections. The system does not keep track of the random ordering for sections for each participant. |
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Response review |
If set to Yes, then participants may review and change their responses just before they complete the online survey. They are given this opportunity after they complete the last section of the survey, and before any closing text is shown. At this point, they can see all their responses and go back to any section to change their responses. Once they complete the online survey, they cannot go back at a later date and change any responses. |
Web-based studies are typically setup so there is one timeslot, and that timeslot contains the maximum number of participants that are desired to participate, and the last date and time when they can participate (often, this is the end of the term). It is not recommended that multiple timeslots be set up for a web-based studies (it confuses participants), though the system will support it. It is acceptable to have multiple timeslots where more than one is not active at a time. For example, one could have had a deadline date of the end of the previous semester (and thus is currently in the past), while the current timeslot has a deadline date of the end of the current semester (i.e., in the future).
It is generally assumed that participants will participate in an online study shortly after they sign up. Because of this, the system will expect credit to be granted to them soon after they sign up. If Sona is used as the survey provider, credit will be granted automatically, immediately after the participant completes the survey.
For full usage information regarding using Sona as a survey provider, please consult the Sona user manual.
Using an external survey provider
As mentioned above, the advantage of using an external survey provider is that it allows much more flexibility in designing online questionnaires than does Sona. To begin, the researcher will need an account with an external survey provider (e.g., Survey Monkey). If student researchers or Honours students are looking to utilize Survey Monkey, it is recommended that they ask their supervisor if they have an existing account, or if they are willing to open an account for the student. Get to know the design options and question types available on the survey provider. Once the survey is created, the provider should provide a link to give to participants. This link will be made available to the participants who sign up to participate in the study on Sona (see linking surveys to Sona for more information).
- The following instructions are tailored to the use of Survey Monkey as an external survey provide, but any survey provider that meets university requirements regarding confidentiality and data management may be used.
Methods of participation confirmation
Once the survey design is completed, the website will provide you with a link to the survey. Simply copy and paste the provided link onto the study page for the experiment on Sona. The experiment must have already been set up on Sona. For further information on setting up an experiment on Sona, see the faculty researcher information page.
Please note that this procedure is specific to Survey Monkey.
When designing an online questionnaire, the first page is used as the consent form (some researchers have chose to put the consent form on a separate web-page, but this is not necessary). This page should include one "Multiple Choice (Only One Answer)" type of question. Copy and paste your study information into the provided space.
- Notice that in Survey Monkey, the amount of information in your consent form may not fit into the space provided to you in the body of the question. If this is the case, some of your copied text will not appear when you paste it into the text box. To solve this problem, simply include additional "Descriptive Text" questions above the multiple choice question (notice that this type of question does not require a response). Divide your consent form information into two parts (or more, if needed) and paste the first part into the "Descriptive Text" question, and the second part into the "Multiple Choice" question.
In the response option to the multiple choice question put only one option: "I have read and understood the information above". Include the instruction for the participant to check the box and then to click the "Next" button.
- Answering this question must be mandatory (check the "Require Answer to Question" option when designing the question) so that participants will not be able to skip to the next page without checking the box.
By responding to this question, the participants give their consent to participate in the study. Remember to clarify for the participants that they can choose not to participate by simply clicking the "Exit" button.
Please note: If Survey Monkey is chosen as the studies survey provider, be certain to include the U.S. Patriot Act issue in the consent form, for example:
While you will not be asked for identifying information in this survey, IP addresses may be recorded. Additionally, all information you provide will be stored in, and accessed from, a web server in the United States. To participate, we require you to acknowledge and consent to this manner of data collection and storage. Please indicate below whether or not you consent to these terms.
Do you consent to storing and accessing your data in the United States? Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Methods of participation confirmation
In most cases, Sona participants choose to participate in online studies to receive course credit (see section on Alternative Compensation Options for other methods of compensation). When using Sona as the survey provider participants are automatically identified by the system, making credit granting very simple. However, this does not happen when using an external survey provider (e.g., Survey Monkey). Therefore, a method of confirming participation must be chosen prior to implementing a non-Sona internet survey. There are a number of ways to obtain participant identification for credit granting purposes. When using an external survey provider, no matter which method of confirmation is chosen, the participants anonymity will not be kept. However, some methods are designed to maintain a higher level of confidentiality than others. Please carefully read the information below concerning three different confirmation methods, and make an informed decision regarding the method that works best for the study.
Ask for names in questionnaire
Asking for participants' full names in the questionnaire is the most straight-forward method of identity confirmation. When the responses are downloaded from the survey site, participant names are easily matched to students signed up to participate in the study on Sona
- This method maintains a low level of confidentiality because the participants' names are saved online with their responses.
- Also note that undergraduate student researchers (research assistants or Honours students) should not have access to any private information about other undergraduates. Thus, if undergraduate students are involved in confirming participation or granting credit on Sona, the third party procedure must be used.
Assigning an ID code to each participant ensures a higher level of confidentiality.This is achieved by adding one "Single Textbox" type of question to the online questionnaire. The textbox must include specific instructions that will guide participants to create an ID code based on their personal information. Participants will respond to this question by creating the code according to the instructions and typing it in the space provided. This way, when the responses are downloaded, the codes will appear as answers to the question.
Furthermore, participants should be instructed to email the ID codes to the study coordinator (either the researcher or research assistant. Refer to the next section for further instructions regarding the third party procedure). Participants should be instructed to include their full names (as they appear in Sona) along with their ID codes.
- It is recommended to have participants include the study name in the title of the email
Once the email with the ID code is received from a new participant, the researcher who has access to the full set of responses should confirm that the new code exists in the data set. Upon confirmation, the participant can be granted credit on Sona. It is highly recommended to record all participant names and ID codes in a separate file, in case of information loss. Diligent monitoring is essential due to the complexity of the process.
To avoid participants' concerns about their credit, it is crucial to inform them that the process of granting the credit may take longer than in other studies (up to 10 days), especially when using the third party procedure.
This is a variation of the previous method, and allows for a higher level of confidentiality than the previous methods. This procedure is required when dealing with topics of a sensitive nature (e.g., sexual experiences, trauma). Also, be advised that undergraduate student researchers (research assistants or Honours students) should not have any access to any private information about other undergraduates. Thus, if undergraduate students are involved in granting credit on Sona, the third party procedure is mandatory.
- It is the researcher's responsibility to define the nature of the study and their obligation to use the method of confirmation that will promise the participants the appropriate level of anonymity.
For this procedure, a third person must be enlisted to act as an intermediary in the credit assignment process.
- The intermediary will be responsible for receiving emails with participant ID codes (see previous section on ID codes for more details).
- The intermediary should create a list of all the ID codes received from participants and their corresponding full names.
- The intermediary will email the researcher responsible for granting credit an updated list of codes, every predefined period of time (preferably two days), without the names.
- The researcher will then access the data sets and confirm to the intermediary that the new ID codes belong to data sets.
- The intermediary will then send the researcher a list of the names of the participants (preferably alphabetically ordered) which correspond to the newly verified ID codes, without the ID codes.
- The researcher will then grant each participant the appropriate credit on Sona.
Once a participant name has been confirmed as having participated in the survey, credit may be granted on the Sona system.
- Sign in to Sona
- Navigate to the relevant study and click on the link "View Your Uncredited Timeslots"
- This page features a list of all the participants who have signed up to participate in the study
- NOTE: Not all of these participants have necessarily completed the survey
- Click on the "Modify" button, which will navigate to page that allows the granting of credit
- Search the list for the participants that have completed the study, select them, and check the "Participated" box
- NOTE: It may be useful to use the "find on this page" option in the Edit menu to quickly locate a participant
- NOTE: Credit may be granted to multiple participants at the same time by checking more than one name before clicking "Update Sign-Ups"
- The participants who are granted credit will be removed from the list and their names will be stored on the "Study Timeslots" page
Last reviewed 
2/4/2011 1:09:28 PM
