PEARL Student Participants

Pepperdine has implemented a research participant pool involving students enrolled in various courses. Student research participation is intended to be a learning experience for the students as well as a valuable resource for researchers at Pepperdine University. 

Students will be required to complete a designated number of research-related credits in a semester. The number of credits required in a particular semester is subject to change. Currently, the number of credits required is three (i.e., 3 credits required). Required credits are the equivalent of 3% of the students’ final grade in a participating business class. This research requirement is the equivalent of the lab section in, for example, a physics course—it is intended to familiarize the students with current research topics and techniques. 

Please note: Students will NOT be required to participate in research studies. Following the guidelines of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), if students are unable or unwilling to participate in a research study, an alternative assignment will be provided. Thus, students can earn one research-related credit in their course by either participating in one research lab session or by completing one alternative assignment. Students have the option to mix and match.

For the alternative assignment, students will be asked to read a research article published in a top-tier business journal and to answer question(s) about the article. (See the end of this document for an example of an alternative assignment.) In order to receive an alternative assignment, students must contact PEARL directly. The time commitment of an alternative assignment will be equivalent to the time commitment of the lab session that it is replacing. For example, if a lab session is 50 minutes, then the alternative assignment for the lab session will also be 50 minutes. 

Students completing an alternative assignment must submit A HARD COPY to the PEARL no later than 4:00 PM on the Friday associated with the lab session that the alternative assignment is replacing. For example, if Lab Session 1 is scheduled for Monday, September 12- Friday, September 16, then the alternative assignment for Lab Session 1 must be turned in by 4:00 PM on Friday, September 16. Late assignments will not be accepted. No exceptions. Alternative assignments will be graded on a pass/fail basis. Each “passed” assignment will be worth one credit. 

As a courtesy, students opting to complete only alternative assignments will be asked to notify their professor and PEARL by the third week of the semester. This is purely for planning purposes regarding the lab sessions that will be offered during the semester.