History of the Lindenwood Participant Pool

The Lindenwood Participant Pool, originally named the Human Subject Pool (HSP), was established in the fall of 2002 to help accommodate the needs of student researchers as well as to help provide an opportunity for students to earn bonus points toward select GE-level courses in the social sciences while learning about the discipline outside of the classroom.

The original pool of participants came primarily from ANT112, PSY100, PSY101 and most SOC102 classes, although some upper-level GE-courses in Anthropology and Sociology have also been part of the pool from time to time. The pool abides by the ethical guidelines set by the American Psychological Association (APA) and all researchers who wish to recruit their participants through the pool must first obtain approval from the Lindenwood University Institutional Review Board (IRB) and pass a quiz regarding the rules and regulations of the participant pool.

Marking its seventh anniversary in the fall of 2009, the HSP renamed itself to the Lindenwood Participant Pool (LPP). The change, although subtle, is significant, as we hope to distinguish between the terms, “participants,” who voluntarily consent to taking part in a study, and “subjects,” referring to those who are included in a study without their consent (examples: observees who are unaware that they are being observed and animals).

In addition to taking on the new name, the LPP has expanded its pool to include some introductory courses in the Athletic Training program, primarily triggered by the interests expressed by the faculty in that program. Furthermore, LPP staff members must now also complete an online tutorial about the ethical treatment of human research participants offered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in addition to the research-oriented psychology courses prior to holding office in the LPP.