Recruitment System

To participate in laboratory or virtual laboratory experiments conducted by the Nuffield Centre for Experimental Social Sciences, a person has to register online at http://cess-subjects.nuff.ox.ac.uk/ and agree to the following rules for participation (Note: Registration is currently only open to individuals who are at least 18 years of age who currently reside in the UK) . Laboratory participants will be asked to sign a rules sheet the first time they come to the lab. Additionally, subjects will be asked to read and confirm their understanding of an information sheet particular to each experiment prior to participating.

Rights of All CESS Participants:

• All experiments conducted by CESS conform to commonly accepted ethical standards.
  
  
• CESS does not allow the use of deception. If a researcher makes a promise to subjects, CESS ensures that it is fulfilled.
  
  
• CESS will never share your information with a third party except with your permission or to the extent required by law.
  
  
• CESS participants will always receive information about what their participation entails prior to deciding whether to participate.
  
  
• All researchers, staff, and participants are protected from being harmed physically, psychologically or emotionally while participating in CESS research.
  
  
• CESS participants are allowed to withdraw from an experiment at any time without providing a reason and without penalty but doing so may result in you foregoing any payment.

Rules for Laboratory Experiments

• By registering for laboratory experiments, you indicate your intention to take part in CESS experiments.
  
  
• For each experiment, a certain number of registered participants will be invited to sign up to participate. You only have the right to take part in the experiment if you are invited via email.
  
  
• If you get an email inviting you to an experiment, you have to take the steps outlined in the email to take part in the experiment. In doing so, you indicate your commitment to participate (Failure to attend sessions you have signed up for more than 5 times may result in your exclusion from the subject pool).
  
  
• For each experiment, an excess number of participants will be allowed to register. Should more participants than can be used come to an experiment, we will ask if there are any volunteers willing to forego participating and receive their £5 showup fee for coming to the lab. Otherwise, a random draw will be used to determine who will participate.
  
  
• If you register for an experimental session and show up on time, you are guaranteed to be paid at least the show-up fee of £5. Participants who arrive after the scheduled start time and do not participate will not receive their show-up payment.
  
  
• Usually, payment will be in the form of cash and you will be paid in private at the conclusion of the session. The amount may depend on your choices, the choices of others and luck but you are guaranteed to earn at least the show-up fee of £5.
  
  
• During an experiment, you are expected to not be disruptive and to behave according to the experiment’s instructions. If you fail to do so, you may be asked to leave and may not receive compensation for your participation.
  
  
• By completing an experiment, you are agreeing to have the data you provide to be used anonymously as part of academic research.
  
  
• If you agree to take part in an experiment, you are expected to arrive at least five minutes ahead of time. This will help us start experiments on time and prevents us cancelling experiments if too few people come to the lab.
  
  
• You are expected to provide truthful information to the best of your knowledge.
  
  
• You are not allowed to threaten or otherwise intimidate and/or insult other participants or CESS researchers. Doing so will result in your immediate expulsion from an experiment and removal from the CESS subject pool.

Rules for Virtual Laboratory Experiments

• By registering for virtual laboratory experiments, you indicate your intention to take part in CESS experiments.
  
  
• For each experiment, a certain number of registered participants will be invited to sign up to participate. You only have the right to take part in the experiment if you are invited via email.
  
  
• If you get an email inviting you to an experiment, you have to take the steps outlined in the email to take part in the experiment. In doing so, you indicate your commitment to participate. (Failure to attend sessions you have signed up for more than 5 times may result in your exclusion from the subject pool).
  
  
• You must have an active Paypal account to be compensated for participating in virtual laboratory studies. We do our best to provide payment within two weeks of the conclusion of an experiment. The amount you earn may depend on your choices, the choices of others and luck.
  
  
• During a virtual experiment, you are expected to keep your area free of distraction and stay focused on the experiment. If you fail to do so, you may be removed from the experiment and may not receive compensation for your participation.
  
  
• By completing an experiment, you are agreeing to have the data you provide to be used anonymously as part of academic research.
  
  
• If you agree to take part in an experiment, you are expected to be at your computer at the scheduled start time. All participants who signed up and arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before and no later than the scheduled start time are eligible to participate in a session. Should more participants than can be used come to a session, a random draw will be used to determine which subjects participate. All other subjects will receive £3 for logging into the session on time.
  
  
• You are expected to provide truthful information to the best of your knowledge.
  
  
• You are not allowed to threaten or otherwise intimidate and/or insult other participants or CESS researchers. Doing so will result in your immediate expulsion from an experiment and removal from the CESS subject pool.

All CESS data management policies are designed in consideration of the Data Protection Act of 1998 & 2018. More information on these guidelines can be found at: Data protection and Privacy policy. The University of Oxford is the primary data controller for all data generated by CESS. Responsible members of the University and funders may be given access to data for monitoring and/or audit of studies to ensure that CESS is complying with guidelines or as otherwise required by law.

The Centre for Experimental Social Sciences at Nuffield College guarantees the following rights for all participants:

• All CESS participants have the right to withdraw from a study at any time without providing a reason and without penalty.
  
  
• All CESS participants have the right to have their personal data removed from CESS systems. If you would like your data removed, please contact cess-lab@nuffield.ox.ac.uk
  
  
• Personal data will never be given to third parties unless explicit consent is provided by the individual or to the extent required by law.
  
  
• All data provided to researchers during a study will be fully anonymised unless it is explicitly stated otherwise in the consent form.
  
  

The Centre for Experimental Social Sciences at Nuffield College further adheres to the following code of conduct regarding the handling of data provided by its participants:

• All signed consent forms and receipts are stored in perpetuity in locked cabinets at CESS facilities that are only accessible by CESS’s experiment and ethics managers and responsible members of the University of Oxford.
  
  
• Non-anonymised data is stored on password protected servers that are only accessible by CESS’s experiment and ethics managers and responsible members of the University of Oxford.
  
  
• Upon the conclusion of data collection for a study, all data is anonymised wherever possible. This means that all ways that a person’s decisions and data could be linked with their identity are destroyed making it impossible to pair an individual with the data they have provided.
  
  
• Anonymised copies of data are stored on CESS’s secure servers and/or on hard drives that are stored in locked cabinets that are only accessible by CESS’s experiment and ethics managers and responsible members of the University of Oxford.
  
  
• Researchers are only provided with anonymised copies of data from experiments unless explicitly stated otherwise during the consent process. In this case, researchers undertake responsibility for the proper protection of the data.