Information for new undergraduate RAs who are going to run behavioral studies.
MJ's notes to RK:
Break this out into separate pages for:
- before you start working in the lab (CITI training and anything else of that sort), get shared calendar access, establish a schedule with Matt/Rafay, make sure they are added to IRB personnel list before doing anything else (but after CITI training), general training on equipment setup, where stuff is
- running a study (day-of notes) -- where paperwork/laptop/etc. are, checking SONA schedule, room reservations, setting up ahead of time (computer/mouse/power/video/etc), booting up and so on, getting paperwork prepared, etc., checking in with Rafay/Matt at end (reconciling paperwork, double-check all notes and subject sheet, confirming next week's schedule)
TO-DO for MJ/RK:
- make subject-tracking (counterbalance/notes/etc) sheet for each experiment that lives in the folder for that experiment -- log subject #, date/time, experimenter, cash vs credit, credit assigned?, check off practice run, check off each real run, notes (brainstorm this more in case there's anything we forgot)
- for ref_disc_color_lab -- may want to think ahead to how many color versions we have and put the study version on the sheet so we don't have a time confound
CITI Training
In order to conduct any research study, any potential researcher must first complete CITI training. CITI stands for Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative and is a training program designed to give researchers the tools and information needed to conduct research. In order to conduct studies, the basic course for Group 2(Social/behavioral research investigators and key personnel) must be completed.
Conducting a study session
After completing the CITI training, RAs will be trained on the studies they will be running. This will consist of the RA sitting in on several sessions of the study led by a more senior member of the lab. After a few sessions, the RA will be asked to lead the study while a senior lab member sits in on the session and helps out when needed. Once the RA is confident enough, he or she will be able to run the study without any supervision.
Each study will be accompanied by a detailed instructions sheet, which will detail all aspects of setting up the study, as well as what instructions to give the participant, and how to troubleshoot in case of issues with any of the technology involved. The instructions should be followed very strictly, to ensure each participant is given the same level of preparation before the study begins.
Lockers
The RAP Lab lockers are locker numbers 202 and 203 in the B floor bull pen in CB3. This is where stimulus presentation laptops and paperwork are stored when studies are not being conducted. Undergrads will be given codes to the locks once they are ready to conduct studies independently.
Paperwork and scheduling participants
Each study requires participants to fill in a consent form, a demographics form, and any number of other forms depending on the study. RAs will receive this paperwork from the lab manager, and be expected to securely store completed forms in the lab lockers. Participant information is to be treated with the utmost care to ensure the privacy of their data. At the end of every week of data collection, RAs will meet with the lab manager to reconcile paperwork (ie hand over completed forms and receive fresh ones for the next week of data collection), and to grant SONA credit, as well as book future SONA time slots.
{Find out if RAs have access to SONA, lab GMail, EMS, etc}
Access to lab email address and handling responses