Test Days

What is Testday?

The Testday is part of the courses studiewerkgroepen and vaardighedentraject and it is aimed to expose students of the sociology bachelor to data collection. It also helps researchers to pilot their questionnaires or even to collect proper data.

When and where do they take place?

There are two Testdays organized each year: one in Fall and one in Spring. Ideally, Testdays take place in the Aletta Jacobs hall (Zernike campus).

Who participates in the Testdays?

Participants are all first and second-year Sociology students, who are enrolled in the courses studiewerkgroepen and vaardighedentraject in September of the respective academic year. Participation is mandatory for students, but they are not obliged to allow their data to be used for scientific purposes.

Are you planning to submit a study to the Testdays?

If you are planning to send a study to the Testdays, please note that:

• Calls for study proposal are sent out six months in advance to allow for proper preparation and thorough ethical review.
• The Testday can take up to 2.5 hours maximum.
• It is not permitted to pay out monetary rewards, or any other form of prizes as part of the Testdays. If your study requires payment to increase validity, your best option would be not to participate in the Testday, but rather recruit participants through different means (e.g., the Sociology Lab maintained by the Norms and Networks Cluster).
• Depending on the complexity of the study, we may ask you to help with the collection of the data in person during the Testday.

All studies conducted during the Testdays must obtain approval from the Ethics Committee of the Department of Sociology. The detailed study proposal must be submitted to the Ethics Committee of the Department of Sociology via the Research Portal . Please, make sure that your proposal contains:

• general information about the study;
• its aims;
• any ethical concerns that could arise;
• informed consent forms;
• a more specific estimation of the time that your study will take (so far we have used the following estimation for Likert scales: # of items / 6 = total minutes);
• information about data storage in accordance with the GDPR (e.g., using servers that are outside the EU requires you to inform the participants that their data might theoretically be accessible by, say foreign intelligence services);
• your specific needs regarding rooms, materials, time, and equipment;
• whether you will need the first- and second-year students to be split into separate groups, and if so, for which reason
• as an attachment, a copy of your (draft) questionnaire;
• a detailed plan for debriefing explaining why the study was done the way it was constructed to achieve its aims can facilitate such a learning experience. Participation in the Testdays is a mandatory part of students’ education, thus it should be educational.

Any questions?

The Testday coordinator for the year 2023/2024 is Dennis Nientimp. Please, contact him via d.nientimp@rug.nl may you have any questions regarding the participation in the Testday.