Psychology Department Research Participation Pool

What is research? Scientists—including those here at Pitt—learn about human thinking and behavior by conducting surveys on relationship satisfaction, testing which study strategies result in the best exam grades, and measuring brain activity as people learn words in a new language, among many others.

One goal of Introduction to Psychology is that, in addition to learning what scientists have discovered about psychology, you will also learn how psychologists conducted that research.

To see first-hand how psychologists perform research, the Department of Psychology gives all students in this course a research assignment worth up to 4% of your total grade. 

You may complete this research assignment in several ways:

• Participate in approved research studies conducted by professors in the Department of Psychology.  Each hour of participation counts as 1% towards the 4% total points possible.  This is the preferred option—you will get to see how researchers right here at Pitt are studying psychology, andcontributing your participation will provide us with valuable scientific knowledge that enhances our understanding of psychology and the world we live in.

• Write brief reports on published psychology research articles. Each article report counts as 1% towards the 4% total points possible.

• You can combine research participation and article reports to reach your 4% total.

--If you already completed some or all of the research assignment as part of the Introduction to Psychology course at Pitt, and are retaking the class this term, e-mail the research coordinator at sfraundo@pitt.edu to transfer your credits.

If you  have questions or problems with research participation, please contact the research pool coordinator, Dr. Scott Fraundorf, at sfraundo@pitt.edu, not your instructor. Dr. Fraundorf coordinates the research pool across all sections of Introduction to Psychology.