Accessibility statement

Being a Participant

Many areas of research in the Psychology Department rely on collecting data from human participants. Often these experiments are computer-based, and are run in labs in the department. For example, we might wish to determine people's reaction times when confronted with speech, or text or visual images. In other cases, experiments can be run over the internet, and in a few cases, all that's needed is a pen and paper.

Our participants come from three sources:

  • Psychology Undergraduate and Masters Students
    First and second year undergraduates are required to participate in a set number of hours worth of experiments each semester for credits, and can choose to take part in further experiments on a paid basis. Third and fourth year undergraduates and masters students can choose to take part in further experiments on a paid basis. These students automatically have accounts created in SONA.
  • Non-Psychology University Members and External People
    SONA allows non-departmental members to request registration to the system to enable them to participate in advertised experiments. Experiment advertisements should direct this set of users to the SONA system.
    Click here for further information about SONA and the Human Participant Pool system.

The York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC) also runs experiments and is looking for volunteers. 

Being an Undergraduate Researcher

At York we aim to give our undergraduates a solid background in research, encouraging them to develop their research skills throughout their studies, working in labs and with skilled research staff. For example, we run the Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary Scheme to give students first-hand experience of working as a member of one of the Department's research groups.

Useful links