Minnesota Carlson Paid Subject Pool

The Carlson Behavioral Lab is always accepting new participants who are interested in joining our paid participant pool. You don't have to be a Carlson or UMN student — anyone can join!

If you are interested in receiving emails about upcoming paid study opportunities throughout the year, please join our mailing list.

By joining you are only agreeing to receive email notifications, you are not committing to any studies. You can contact us to be removed from the Sona system anytime.

How it works

1. Sign up to join our mailing list. 
   A few days after you fill out the form, you will receive an email with your login information to Sona, which is the online system we use to organize participants and studies.
2. Log in and tell us about yourself. 
   When you log in for the first time, we have a few questions to make sure we will reach out to you when a study is recruiting participants with your characteristics (e.g., age, field of work, etc.).
3. Browse available studies on Sona.
   You will also receive occasional emails from Sona when new studies and/or timeslots become available.
4. Sign up for studies and participate.
   Information about each study is provided in Sona, including where the study is held, the time commitment involved, type and amount of payment, the general task you’ll be asked to do for the study, and the researcher you can contact if you have any questions concerning participation. You choose the studies you want to participate in.

*If you are student in the Carlson RUS credit pool please note that we cannot give your course credit for participation in paid studies, only credit studies via the RUS student participant website*

For more information, please contact the Carlson Paid Participant Pool Administrator at [email protected].

If your research includes subject pool use, you must email your IRB approval letter, submission and any updates to the Behavioral Labs Manager prior to posting your study in Sona or reserving the labs. More information on the IRB can also be found under the Researchers/IRB Information tab.

If you will be using the paid subject pool for your research, you will need training on the Sona Subject Management System. Please contact the Behavioral Labs Manager or the Labs Assistant at [email protected] to set up a training.

For full instructions on how to post a study on the Sona website, please click on the Researchers/Post your Study tab.  Always contact the Behavioral Labs Manager before posting or adding time slots to your study in the subject pool.  Please also contact the labs manager if you are reactivating a study or adding time slots to an existing study.  Your cooperation is appreciated as there may be questions to address.