Posted on July 16: Not all test subjects driven by payments

Some people do it because they want to advance science. Others do it because they want to make fast money. If you're willing to be poked and prodded, McMaster University has opportunities for the human guinea pig.

“It varies from person to person. We've actually had a number of people come through our lab who have started out as participants in experiments,” said Allison Sekuler, professor of psychology.

“They may have started out doing it for the money. But the more experiments that they participated in, the more they learned about the research and the more interested they got.”

Sekuler, who studies the visual perception of subjects, among other things, pays her subjects $10 an hour for their time. She said the age of the subject might provide some insight as to their motivation for participation.

“I think particularly with the younger people, the motivation may initially be money for a lot of them but in the long run, I think a lot of them end up getting interested. With the older subjects, I don't think money plays a role at all. (For) a lot of our aging research we don't give any stipend,” she said.

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