Funding for Language Consultants and Experimental Subjects
for graduate students in the UCLA Department of Linguistics
This funding is disbursed by the Student Research Support Committee. Please contact Pam (munro@ucla.edu) and/or Pat (keating@humnet.ucla.edu) if any questions about funding policies or application procedures.
Application for Consultant/Experiment
Funding for Graduate Students
General Information
The following application form is for the use of linguistics graduate students
seeking funding to support work with language consultants or participants in
experiments. Our department is remarkable in generously supporting such student
research. Almost any student who needs such support is able to obtain it. This
research contributes to dissertation, thesis, and paper writing, as well as to
students' general growth as linguists. However, the budget for such work is not
unlimited, so we are pursuing policies for equitably granting student research
funding requests. All other things being equal, strong preference is given
to work related to theses and dissertations or contemplated publications.
Notes:
1) This application procedure applies to funds from the department's budget
granted individually to you. Thus, if your work is supported by some faculty
member's grant or a grant to you, or if it is done under the auspices of 210AB
or various other classes, you do not need to fill out this form.
2) In order to be eligible for funding, your research should be discussed with
a faculty member, whose name must be listed on the
form, and with whom you should sign up for units in a 596 (see part III
below).
The form has three parts, I (Consultant work), II (Experiments), and III
(General). After reading the following section concerning OPRS, please complete
I and/or II, plus III.
When you have finished filling out this form, please return it to both Pam (munro@ucla.edu) and Pat (keating@humnet.ucla.edu).
Please email the completed form unless there is a good reason not to do
so.
Important: OPRS
You need to be aware that student research that may
result in publications may be closely monitored by UCLA's Office for the
Protection of Research Subjects (www.oprs.ucla.edu <http://www.oprs.ucla.edu> ).
• If you want to receive funds from the department, you need to obtain
certification in research with "human subjects" (this term is less
accurate for consultants, but according to the Federal government's definition,
does apply for them), which you can do at www.training.ucla.edu
<http://www.training.ucla.edu> (There is
an online course whose completion results in a certificate).
• In addition, you need to apply to OPRS for permission to conduct your
research. This may involve either applying for an exemption or actually
submitting your study for IRB review. Generally speaking, if you are planning
consultant work you can apply for an exemption (lately, in fact, our applicants
have been very successful); however, if you are doing phonetic or other
consultant work that might be seen as "invasive" (involving touching
other than with a head-mounted microphone), you may not qualify for an
exemption. For the latest on OPRS policy and precedent regarding consultant
work, see Pam. If you are planning an experiment, it is less likely that you
can apply for an exemption, but if your tasks involve simply reading,
listening, and pressing buttons, you might qualify for one. For the latest on
OPRS policy and precedent for experimental work, see Pat.
Many graduate students can tell you their experiences with OPRS as well, and Adrienne Scutellaro in the Language Learning Lab can
offer assistance.
Since OPRS processing, particularly IRB review (as opposed to exemption), can
take an unpredictable amount of time (possibly several months), you should plan
ahead and begin filling in the necessary forms well in advance of when you plan
to begin the actual research. See us for copies of or referrals to previous
successful OPRS submissions for both consultant work and experiments. In order
to help us in this endeavor, please give us a copy of the final version of your
OPRS application and supporting documents (if any) after they have been
certified.
I. Work with consultants
I hope to use ___(number) hours of consultant time during the current quarter
and ___(number) additional hours for the remainder of the academic year
(through the end of June). (Please make your best estimates.)
Name of consultant:
Language:
Project (describe in a few sentences what you will be doing and how it relates
to your graduate study)
Name of faculty supervisor for this project (this person should sign the time
sheets):
Note: If you have plans to do consultant work with more than one speaker,
please copy the form and submit a separate answer for each consultant.
**Paying consultants. Consultants in our department are currently paid about
$20/hour. This is, in general, not a negotiable amount. Consultants who work
with department members in the
II. Work with experimental participants
My experiment is planned to involve ____ (number) participants, who will be
paid $_____ per session [see below] and will each participate in _____ (number)
session(s), with a typical session lasting ______ (hours/minutes), for a total
of $_____ in requested funding.
Project (describe in a few sentences what the experiment is designed to test,
what task(s) the participants will be doing, and how this relates to your
graduate study):
Name of faculty supervisor for this project:
**Paying subjects. There is currently no official standard payment rate for
experimental participants in our department, though it is in everyone's
interest to keep rates roughly uniform across the department, so you should
consult with others who have run experiments recently--$10/hour is a common
rate these days. Please tell us if there are any unusual circumstances about
your experiment that might justify more than the going rate, such as physical discomfort
for participants.
The default procedure involves either 1) getting a petty cash advance from Mary
Hoang (hoang@humnet.ucla.edu)
and getting participants to sign a receipt (consult Mary for what information
must be on the receipt), then returning all receipts and unused cash to Mary;
or 2) paying subjects out of your pocket, getting receipts as above, and then
being reimbursed. For further information, you will be
referred to Mary.
III. General
1. We encourage you to apply for non-departmental intramural or extramural
funding in support of your project.
Have you have applied for any such funds in connection with this project? ____
(Y/N) (Even if you are not successful, applying is looked upon favorably.)
If so, please provide details:
2. Do you have any non-departmental funding currently available, e.g. from a
fellowship, that could pay for all or part of your project? ____ (Y/N)
If so, please provide details:
Note: We understand that there may be other highly legitimate demands on that
money. If there are reasons why it is undesirable to use that money for this
purpose, please let us know about them.
3. The department's expenses for graduate student research are at least partly
justified if students receiving these funds sign up for Linguistics 596B with
their supervisor during quarters in which they receive funding.
Have you signed up for 596Bs for the time when you will be carrying out this
project? ____ (Y/N)
If Yes, for which quarter(s)? ____________________
If No, why not?
Thank you.