Research in the Columbia Business School Behavioral Research Lab
This document describes policies and procedures for conducting research in the Columbia Business School Behavioral Research Labs. Additional questions about lab use should be directed to the lab coordinator.
For the complete version of our lab guidelines, download our Lab Guidelines 2008/2009 (PDF).For the complete version of our online lab guidelines, download our Online Guidelines 2009 (PDF).
The sections that follow review the basic steps of lab usage as well as lab etiquette.
Step 1: Obtain IRB approval
Researchers can pursue a human subjects application at www.rascal.columbia.edu (under Compliance and then Human Subjects Protocols-IRB). Find information about the deadlines for review at www.columbia.edu/cu/irb/. Indicate in your application that you will be recruiting subjects using the Behavioral Lab Web site and e-mail list (along with any other recruiting methods you will be using).
Specific questions regarding the IRB process, please contact Michel Pham at tdp4@columbia.edu or Casey Ichniowski at bei1@columbia.edu, School reps on the IRB. You may also contact the IRB directly at 212.851.7040.
Step 2: Submit IRB approval to lab coordinator
Researchers must submit the IRB approval code to the lab coordinator prior to study activation and approval on SONA.Step 3: Schedule lab space
General guidelines for reserving space:
- Researchers are required to email the lab coordinator Aaron Levine (ajl2144@columbia.edu, B201) to schedule reservation of lab space.
- You can reserve the labs two to three weeks in advance. Any time slot within the upcoming two-week period is considered “residual” (additional details on residual hours are available in the lab guidelines pdf).
- Please be considerate of the limited lab space. If scheduling partial days, please select times during the 1st or 2nd half of the day (i.e., 10 a.m.–2 p.m., or 2 p.m.–6 p.m.).
- Faculty who use the Behavioral Lab as their primary lab space may schedule no more than 100 hours of reserved lab time per semester per lab. This includes the 3rd floor computer lab, and the basement lab.
- Post docs may schedule no more than 50 hours of reserved lab time per semester per lab.
- Lab reservations will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Graduate Students may reserve lab time through faculty sponsors. These hours come out of the faculty sponsor’s allocation.
- If you decide to cancel your reservation for one or multiple days, you must e-mail the lab coordinator.
- Paper and pencil studies should be run in the basement lab flexi-space (room B204/B205; seats up to 16 participants).
Step 4: Advertise research on the Behavioral Lab Web site
You can recruit participants for studies by advertising your study on SONA. Participants will sign up for a time slot and are required to come to the lab at that time. Researchers can track no-shows and can also track the sign-up rates for different time slots. By using the SONA system, researchers can also ensure that participants cannot participate in a study more than once. Researchers may also screen out participants from participating in studies that have similar research paradigms.
The subject recruitment list can also be used by researchers who want to run Web-based studies (e.g., using columbia.qualtrics.com). You need explicit IRB approval for running web-based studies and should discuss specific procedures with the lab coordinator. Sam Williams, will need to initiate the installation of the software, so please speak schedule the installation with him and the lab coordinator, Aaron Levine.
