Who can conduct research in the ABS Behavioural Lab?

The Amsterdam Business School's Behavioural Laboratory is a facility for all members of the ABS-Research Institute and open to researchers from all associated institutes (including PhD students). To ensure high-quality research practice in the laboratory and to facilitate a lively research community, conducting research in the ABS Behavioural Lab is tied to active participation in the Lab Group (for more details see Lab Group). Please contact lab-abs@uva.nl to get more information about joining the Lab Group. All research conducted in the ABS Behavioural Lab must fully comply with all Lab Rules including the aforementioned ethical approval and Lab group participation and presentation.

Lab rule: Participant Compensation

Participants are remunerated for their involvement in an experiment with either research credits or money. Participants will either receive 1 research credit per hour or will be paid 10 Euros per hour. If a study lasts less than one hour, participants’ compensation will be proportionate to the amount of time that the study takes. Please note that the exact payment or credit allocation must be announced prior to the study. If a study involves pay-for-performance, the minimum overall payment may not fall below 5 Euro and the maximum overall payment may not exceed 25 Euro per hour.

When researchers pay a participant for their performance, the researchers must pay what was promised in the study description. Whenever payment is dependent on and thus varies with the participant’s task performance, the payment mechanism is described in advance and participants are paid accordingly. It is important to note that the laboratory operates on a reasonable payment principle for participants. If participants receive a very low payment, they will not enlist for other experiments. Alternatively, when payments are very high, participants may form unrealistic expectations of compensation. Both cases can have negative external effects on other experimenters. Because of these negative external effects, payments cannot exceed the amounts described in the prior paragraph.

Lab rule: Use of the laboratory

Before researchers use the laboratory, they must present their experimental design in a Lab Group Meeting and receive approval from the executive board of the lab before conducting their study. This presentation must include all manipulations (e.g., constructs, scales, etc.) and the complete study design (e.g., task parameters, incentives, instructions, time requirement, etc.). Additional discussions about the theoretical framework and contribution are welcome but not required (extensive discussions around these study elements may be shortened). Repeated experimental designs may receive direct approval by the executive board of the laboratory if the repeated design differs only marginally from the originally presented (and approved) research design.

All research conducted in the ABS Behavioural Lab needs to have received Ethical Approval from the EBEC. 

The informed consent of every individual participating in the conducted research needs to be obtained prior to participation in the conducted research. When obtaining informed consent, researchers have to inform participant about the following: (1) the expected duration and procedures of the research; (2) the right to decline to participate and to withdraw from the research once participation has begun; (3) the foreseeable consequences of declining or withdrawing (if applicable); (4) potential risks; (5) potential limits of confidentiality; (6) recording of voices and images (if applicable); (7) incentives for participation; and (8) whom to contact for questions about the research. Students that participate for Research Credits further have the right (9) to indicate that their data may not be used for research purposes. These students can complete the study and in turn receive the full Research Credits promised, however, their data has to be deleted immediately after the study has been taken. This regulation also needs to be included in the informed consent form.

Lab rule: Data storage and privacy

A copy of all digital RAW data files generated in the lab (including but not limited to SPSS data files generated via Qualtrics, Z-tree, files from EEG, video or audio recording, etc.) must be stored on the lab’s data repository, the Lab Storage System (RAID). All audio and video files should immediately be stored on the Lab Storage System, all other files (i.e., from third party systems such as Qualtrics) may be uploaded within 2 weeks of concluding the data collection. All digital RAW data files must be archived by the researcher in the Lab Storage System for a period of at least 10 years.

All data stored on the Lab Storage System is confidential. Researchers associated with an experimental study are able to access the data that the study generates. The researchers associated with an experimental study can grant permission to others to access the data that they (the researchers) placed on the Lab Storage System. Individuals who do not have permission are not able to access the data. The only exceptions to this policy are either when administrators may need to access this data for technical reasons such as the maintenance of the Lab Storage System or when issues as outlined in the UvA Research Data Management (RDM) policy make it necessary for the data steward to access the data (e.g., a university level research integrity complaint that requires a check).

Be aware that violation of the lab rules may lead to restriction or revocation of access to the lab.