Experience in Research - General information

Research Experience

Dr. Yoni Levy

Who is obliged to participate in research experiments?

Any student who is in their first year of undergraduate studies in Criminology.

What is the obligation?

Each student must ensure that they are enrolled in the course "Research Experience" (התנסות במחקר). Once registered, the student is required to participate in research experiments for the following total hours: a student studying criminology is required to earn a total of 20 coupons from experiments in the department of Criminology, Psychology, or Neuroscience. Please be aware! At least 2 out of 20 coupons must be obtained by participating in experiments from the Department of Criminology (N.B., our department’s studies are often marked in the study list with CR).

Obtaining the 20 coupons needs to be gradual: by the conclusion of the first semester you are required to accumulate a minimum of 8 coupons (you can also do 2-3 additional ones if you would like, but not more than that), and by May 31^st 2025 you need to reach the totality of 20.

Students who are enrolled for two departments (for example, Criminology & Psychology) need to accumulate more than 20 coupons (20 + the number of coupons required from the other department).

It is noteworthy that obtaining a "pass" grade in this course is necessary for completing a bachelor's degree in the Department of Criminology!

How do you collect coupons?

After completing an experiment, the researcher will "award" your account in the SONA system with the appropriate number of coupons.

How do you get a passing grade in the "Research Experience"course?

A student who has accumulated the required 20 coupons will pass the course. Pass grades in the course will be entered for all first-year students at the conclusion of the school year. The deadline for accumulating 20 coupons is May 31^st 2025. During June, we will examine the system, and credit "pass" grades for the students who have accumulated the required number of coupons.

How do you get a passing grade in the "Research Experience"course?

Are there websites that accompany the course?

There is a one website that accompanies the participation in experiments: the SONA Experiment System: This is a university system where you can register to participate in experiments, where researchers confirm your participation and also provide you with the earned coupons. The link to the system: https://biu.sona-systems.com

Please be aware! The experiment system is a university system, so experiments from other departments may also appear there. Some studies offer a financial reward for participation, while others offer coupons to students from other departments (these coupons will not accrue to your total credit in the criminology department, unless they belong to the ones listed above). Therefore, you must make sure that you sign up for experiments by the Department of Criminology, Psychology, and Neuroscience that provide coupons to students of the Department of Criminology. See more information below.

Experiments that do not provide a coupon to criminology students will not be recognized retrospectively for this purpose.

How do you identify the experiments that provide the coupons for Criminology students?

Criminology experiments for which you are eligible to receive a coupon, will have a CR prefix before the study's name and title. For example: "CR Research in decision making". Some researchers might even state this explicitly. In case of doubt, you can contact the researcher and ask.

How do you identify the experiments that provide coupons in Psychology and Neuroscience?

By examining the details of the experiment, you can see to which department the research and researcher belong to. From these details you will be able to identify whether the study belongs to psychology or neuroscience.

Please Note: In addition to your participation in experiments that provide coupons, you may participate in any experiment offered in the SONA system, including experiments that provide a financial reward. Keep in mind, though, that paid research in any of the relevant departments will not tally towards the total amount of coupons necessary to complete the course.

Are there any preliminary steps I need to take to participate in the research experiments?

There are a few of preliminary steps you need to take:

Registration to the SONA system is done automatically, an email containing a username and password will be sent to your email address during the first two weeks of the first semester. If you did not receive an email address and password during October, please contact the technical support through the following email: BIU.coupons@gmail.com
When you enter the system for the first time, you will be asked to answer a number of basic background questions. These questions are intended to test your suitability for various studies. Only after filling out these questions, you will be able to view the studies available to you.

How do you sign up to experiments?

There are two ways to sign up to experiments:

You can sign up to time slots which were opened by researchers through the SONA system - to download a presentation explaining the necessary information for students participating in research.
If necessary, you can also directly contact the researchers at the e-mail address that appears on the information page of the study (under researcher information). Note, you should contact the researcher who actually runs the research (researcher) and not to the principal investigator (Principle Investigator), who is in charge of the researcher.

Who to contact in case of questions and problems?

As noted, for any technical questions (such as: SONA account, coupons that do not appear) please contact the following email at: BIU.coupons@gmail.com
For academic or other type of questions, please contact Dr. Levy at: ylevy.biu@gmail.com