for graduate students in the UCLA Department of Linguistics

This funding is disbursed by the Student Research Support Committee.  If you have any questions about funding policies or application procedures please contact the current members of this committee.  You can find out who they are by visiting the Committees Page.

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, who will supervise your work and whose name must be listed on the form, and with whom you should sign up for units in a 596B (see part III below). You must sign up for 596B units regardless of the rest of your schedule and regardless of the kind of research project this is (MA thesis, dissertation, etc.).

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 paste it into an email message and send it to the current This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with cc to both Pam ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Megha ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

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 ).

• 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, should apply for them), which you can do at 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 the Coordinator of the Language Learning Lab can offer assistance. Note that the department has no "blanket" exemption that will cover your research; you must submit your own individual application.

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 your application, let us know whether your application has already been approved, or is in process. However, no money can be spent until we are notified that your application has been approved.

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. If more than one consultant, give breakdown.)

Name(s) 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 on more than one project at a time, please copy the form and submit a separate answer for each separate project. But for multiple consultants on a single project, just submit one form.)

**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 Los Angeles area for more than a few hours each must be hired by the department and are paid according to biweekly-submitted time sheets. Time sheets can be signed only by faculty members. (Different arrangements may be possible for consultants in other locations.)

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, typically pro-rated for a half-hour or less. Please tell us if there are any unusual circumstances about your experiment that might justify more than the going rate, such as physical discomfort or travel to campus for participants.

If at all possible, please use the Psychology subject pool for subject recruitment. In your application please indicate whether you anticipate recruiting from the pool, and if not why not. See the Coordinator of the Language Learning Laboratory for more information about subject pool resources.

The default procedure involves either 1) getting a petty cash advance from Chris Palomo ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and getting participants to sign a receipt (consult Chrisfor what information must be on the receipt), then returning all receipts and unused cash to Chris; or 2) paying subjects out of your pocket, getting receipts as above, and then being reimbursed. For further information, you will be referred to Chris.


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, this request cannot be funded.

Thank you.

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