LAW AND PSYCHOLOGY LAB RULES

We want you to have a fun experience as part of this lab and we want you to learn more about how research is actually conducted. But like any organization, there are some important rules that need to be followed to make sure that subjects are treated in an ethical manner, to make sure that other lab members are respected and to make sure that only high quality data is collected. Your grade for this course can be negatively impacted by failing to live up to these rules.

I. General Duties and Responsibilities
A. You are expected to perform the lab duties requested of you in a prompt manner. Duties can include running participants, entering data, library research or anything else that is integral to the running of the projects or to the lab as a whole.

B. You are expected to be available for 6-8 hours per week every week. You are receiving course credit for your work in the lab and it is not acceptable for you to say that you cannot put in those 6-8 hours because you are too busy with other school work.

II. Treatment of Subjects

A. People who participate in our experiments deserve to be treated with respect.

B. You are expected to behave in a professional manner when conducting experiments. This includes being polite and courteous to participants (even if the participant is not polite and courteous to you).

C. We make an effort to allow you flexibility in deciding when you want to run participants. You have an obligation to show up on time when you are scheduled to run your experiment. Research assistants in our lab do not blow off sessions. If you have to miss a session due an illness, you should contact the person supervising your project as early as possible so that they can cover the session. Missing an assigned session, even one time, can reduce your letter grade in this class.

D. You are expected to respect the rights of experimental participants. These rights include the right to refuse to participate if they so choose, the right to have their personal information kept confidential, their right to learn what the experiment was about (i.e. debriefing) as well as all of their other rights. 

E. You need to accurately record the participant credits so that participants receive the credit that they deserve. You also need to accurately record the participant no shows.

III. Collection of Accurate Data
A. The collection of accurate data is of the utmost importance. It is the entire point of doing science and the entire point of our lab. Keep in mind that we are active researchers who publish our results in scientific journals. That is where the data you collect ultimately ends up. It is important therefore that the data we collect is accurate.

B. It is important that you understand and follow the experimental protocol developed for your project in detail.

C. When entering data it is your responsibility to make sure you understand how to code and enter the data and that you do so with great care. Accuracy in scoring and entering data is extremely important.

D. Keep the data for your personal project neatly organized. The system you use should make it easy for someone, years later to go to the data and find all the original materials and raw data. For any project that results in a manuscript submission, all co-authors on the manuscript should be provided with a CD containing all materials and raw data.

IV. Respect for Other Lab Members
A. You should immediately return lab keys after you use them.

B. If you share a room with another lab team, you should coordinate the use of the room with them and put up room reservation sheets so that other people know when the room will be in use.

C. You are expected to show respect to the graduate students and thesis students who are in charge of the projects and they are expected to treat you with respect. This is not limited to the student in charge of your project. Understand that these students report directly to Dr. Lampinen, so if they ask you to do something, it probably means that Dr. Lampinen asked them to ask you to do it.

V. Communication
A. You are expected to attend and participate in lab meetings. This includes the big lab meetings that take place Tuesdays at 4:00 as well as the meetings of your individual groups. Not only is attendance required but promptness and participation are expected. 

B. You are required to have an email account and to check it daily. Email is among the most convenient ways for us to communicate with you. It is not an excuse to say you didn't know what was going on because you didn't check your email.

C. Phone calls and emails in which you are asked a question or asked about scheduling times are to be responded to promptly. It is not good communication to leave emails or phone calls unreturned if those emails or phone calls call for a response. Obviously there are some emails that don't call for any response from you, for instance a simple announcement doesn't require your response.

D. If something goes wrong in a session, if a piece of equipment is broken, or if any other problems arise, it is your responsibility to bring it to the attention of Dr. Lampinen or one of the graduate students or thesis students. Do not assume that problems will take care of themselves.

E. If you have a question about something or are uncertain about something it is your responsibility to ask questions. 

VI. Security

A. Please keep all lab doors locked when the lab is not in use.

B. If you run subjects in one of the Psychology Department's large classrooms (e.g. Room 113) also make sure that those doors are locked and the keys are returned once you are done for the day.