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Curtin University
Office of Strategy and Planning

SONA exemption from Survey Approvals

Staff and students who recruit research participants solely through SONA (with no other supplementary methods) do not require individual approval from the Office of Strategy and Planning (i.e. there is no need to complete the online form). If you use other recruitment methods in addition to SONA, you may need to complete the Survey Approvals form - see 'FAQ' below.

The School of Psychology has worked with the Human Research Ethics Committee and OSP to offer batch approval (twice a year) where researchers are recruiting participants from SONA. To ensure your project is included in the batch approval, please follow the process below (last updated October 2020):

  1. The SONA administrator will distribute the usual Expression of Interest (EOI) form to all School of Psychology staff at the beginning of each semester, and ask for additional information required for bulk approval. This will include:
    • Researcher(s) names
    • Researcher contact details
    • School
    • Project title
    • Plain language summary
    • Project aims
    • Research design
    • Recruitment via SONA (Yes/No)
    • Recruitment via posters/flyers (Yes/No)
    • Other recruitment methods (Please specify e.g. Student OASIS)
    • Details of any incentives
    • Type of research project (face-to-face or online)
    • Status of ethical approval (with approval number if applicable)
    • Number of required participants
    • Key words (OSP will use these to list projects in our Register of Approved Activity - a searchable register fostering opportunities for research collaboration)
  2. Each semester, the SONA Administrator will send this list to OSP for batch approval of all research projects using SONA for recruitment.
  3. Researchers/students do not need to apply to OSP for approval of their project, unless also recruiting Curtin staff and students via another recruitment strategy (see FAQ for details).
  4. Researchers/students must comply with the DAIP requirement found here: http://planning.curtin.edu.au/mir/surveyapprovals.cfm#what
  5. Researchers/students must comply with the competition terms and conditions found here: http://policies.curtin.edu.au/competitions/index.cfm If researchers are offering prizes, you need to agree that the competition is run according to the process set out in the competitions toolkit via the EOI form.

FAQs

Q. When do I need to complete the Survey Approvals form?

A. You need to complete the form if you are using recruitment methods other than SONA and /or Posters/flyers.
If you are using Posters/Flyers, we recommend that you obtain local permission from the relevant area first as a courtesy. (e.g. if you are placing Posters in the library then contact the library first to see if it's okay).

If you are using methods not mentioned above, please include details in your EOI. The cases will then be assessed on a case by case basis to determine whether Survey Approvals is required.

If you have missed out on submitting your EOI for batch approval, then you need to complete the Survey Approvals form (no exceptions).

Q. I missed the SONA expression of interest deadline - what do I do?

A. Please complete the Survey Approvals form.

  • Sem 1 deadline - Around March every year
  • Sem 2 deadline - Around September every year

Contact:

If you have any questions, please contact:

Welber Marinovic (SONA Administrator) welber.marinovic@curtin.edu.au

Office of Strategy and Planning
CurtinSurveyApprovals@curtin.edu.au