Researcher FAQ
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The behavioral lab services Kellogg researchers, mainly faculty, PhD students, and postdocs.
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We are happy to help with various stages of the research process, including: IRB assistance, study design, survey development, and data collection in-lab, online, or virtually. We will provide feedback for a reproducibility check, wherein we follow your data documentation to reproduce your results. In addition, we welcome the challenge of novel requests that inspire innovative research techniques.
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You could start by filling out an intake form, found on our website, or by contacting us directly at behavioralrs@kellogg.northwestern.edu.
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We can use Zoom videoconferencing to collect data for your study instead of running in-person sessions.
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We will do our best to run your study as soon as possible. The lab balances requests to accommodate the needs of all researchers in an equitable manner. We recommend reaching out as early as possible so we can work together to try to match your timeline, while also maximizing the use and efficiency of lab resources. If you have questions, talk with the Lab Director.
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We will request your IRB approval letter before any data collection occurs, whether it is for an exploratory survey or the full study. Your IRB should include that you are recruiting from the Kellogg Research Registry STU00008432 if you are using the participant pool.
We ask that you provide the required materials (protocol, survey, contact information for RAs, etc.) at least a week in advance of in-lab data collection so that we have adequate time to review and practice the protocol, train the RAs, set up the space and study, and invite participants. For online studies, we need materials at least 2 business days in advance of the launch.
If you make changes to the protocol after data collection begins, we will review those changes before continuing with participants.
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The lab staff includes three full time, pre-doctoral, behavioral research fellows who carry out requests. As aspiring researchers they are eager to learn, and accept this position for the breadth of experiences we provide. Thus, they are more likely to work with you on: requests that require continuity over time (in-lab, online, or virtual studies), complex or innovative requests, developmental skills (e.g. data analysis, writing), and tasks that expose them to new topics and aspects of research.
Undergraduate research assistants (RAs) are helpful for basic research tasks such as data coding, data entry, or citations and formatting. If you request to run an in-lab or virtual study that requires many lab hours, we will suggest hiring temporary RAs to help speed along the data collection. We can help you identify RA candidates to interview and hire via the RA & TA matching process, and train the hired RAs on the data collection process.
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We recommend hiring RAs to help collect data in the field quickly. The fellows can train these RAs, schedule time if we are working with a particular field site, and manage participant compensation.
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No, lab equipment cannot be borrowed or rented out.
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Researchers are responsible for providing resources needed for studies and removing them upon project completion. You can store these materials in the lab while your in-lab studies are running, but we will ask you to remove the materials after your study is complete.
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Lab staff are available 9:00-5:00 Monday-Friday to run studies in one of our two lab sites, Jacobs Center in Evanston or Wieboldt Hall in Chicago. If you have questions, talk with the Lab Director.