About PSEPP

What is PSEPP?

PSEPP is a sample recruitment tool for political science research sponsored by the UNL Department of Political Science. Its purposes are twofold: for students to learn about the research process, and to enable faculty and graduate students in the department to conduct research.

This is an excellent resource for collecting data, especially when conducting experimental research or laboratory studies, pilot testing a survey, or replicating work conducted with other samples.

The pool has been operating since Fall 2008, with almost five thousand participants and more than 120 studies conducted.

When is PSEPP available?

• Participants are enrolled in PSEPP at the start of fall and spring semesters.
• At the start of fall and spring semesters, we administer a prescreening survey.
• Researchers can use PSEPP to recruit participants for laboratory and online studies throughout the semester.

Prescreening Survey

The Prescreening Survey is an online survey that participants can complete on their computers at any location of their choosing. It is administered to students in the participant pool (students primarily enrolled in sections of POLS 100 & 160) at the start of each semester. The survey is typically used by researchers in two different ways: to match data from prescreening to data collected in their own study later in the semester, or it can be used as a recruitment mechanism to invite students to participate in other studies based on responses in prescreening data. Researchers are invited to provide input on the prescreening survey each summer, and must have separate IRB approval to use the prescreening survey in their own research. More information on the prescreening survey is available from the PSEPP office.

PSEPP by the Numbers

• Total Number of Participants: 6,595.
• Number of Researchers: 99.
• Number of Studies: 146.
• Total Time spent on Research Activities: 45,704 hours / 1,904 days / more than 5 years.