Often the idea of university research studies brings to mind white rats hunting through a maze for cheese or beakers filled with mysterious bubbling liquids. However, a number of students associate research studies with a much more appealing image - cold, hard cash.
Between academic and extracurricular demands, ever-busy college students often have little time for a regular job. The quick payoff and limited time commitment of research studies offers an alternative way for students to make money while in school. "It's just a great way to supplement your job or just earn a little pocket money," fourth-year College student Emily Wetzel said.
Although the payoff for these studies is generally in the realm of "pocket money," Wetzel said she has earned everything from a small Panera gift card to almost $1,000 for her participation in past studies.
Generally, the more invasive or longer the study, the higher the dollar amount.
Fourth-year Engineering student Michael Villalobos said he made about $300 for a study which required him to stay overnight three times at the University's General Clinical Research Center while researchers monitored the effects of insulin on suppressing ghrelin within his body. Villalobos added in an email that "not a lot" of his regular income comes from participating in research studies, however. "The most I ever made was close to $1,000 in a semester," he said.
For fourth-year College student Christine Quilpa, the flexibility of research studies also adds to their appeal. Quilpa holds two jobs while she is at home, as a cashier at a store as well as a pianist at a church, but at school she takes on an average of 10 to 12 studies per semester for extra money. "Here, I take 20 credits and have an internship, so I like the studies because they don't take a lot of time," she said.
But money is not the only motivator for students to volunteer for studies. The research process and the activities themselves can also be interesting, making the experience fun and engaging.\n"I was always so interested in what sort of research people were conducting and I genuinely wanted to help them," Quilpa said.
Wetzel, a psychology major, said an interest in the research is another reason for her participation. She said her favorite study was one in which researchers were trying to find a way to help "locked in" patients - patients who have lost all use of their motor skills - gain back some control of their decision making. Researchers placed a sensor around Wetzel's head which was meant to measure the stimulation in a particular area of her brain. "You could control that stimulation yourself by thinking about words, basically talking to yourself in your head, but not making any physical movement," Wetzel explained. The goal was to see if by purposefully stimulating and halting stimulation of the affected area of the brain, Wetzel could control images on the computer screen to which her sensor was connected. "I was supposed to try to think really really hard about these words or just think that long syllable 'La,' and in doing so I controlled an arrow on the screen which went up and down," she said.
In addition to traditional clinical studies offered by these departments, the economics department often conducts studies which can be almost like a gaming experience for students. Wetzel said she has taken part in several studies in which she worked through a computerized simulation which involved bargaining or trading with other participants in the room. For her, part of the excitement of studies like this is that the money earned afterwards is often proportional to the imaginary money amassed in the simulation.
Not all studies have a pleasant outcome, however. Student participants have to remember that because the studies are experiments, there is always the potential that things will not go as planned. Quilpa, who has been doing studies since her first year, recalled one particular study which resulted in injury. The study called for people who had old injuries, and the researchers performed shock therapy on the injured area to see how it would affect the healing process. Quilpa was told the pain would wear off within a couple days, but she continued to feel it for the next two weeks. "It freaked me out, and I don't want to get into ones that are too risky," she said. She now is more cautious about which studies she participates in and doesn't take on anything that sounds too dangerous, she said.
Students who are looking to make money this way must be fully aware of the possible risks and benefits of their participation. Wetzel said she is always careful when signing up and avoids studies which sound overly invasive. When it comes to finding studies to cash in on, "I don't think I would give anything besides blood," she said.
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