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Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

CMU social lab surveys for research project

 It is the study that keeps on giving, for participants at Carnegie Mellon University’s Research Cafe.Participants not only receive either a free gift card or a cash payment for their help with research, but they also gain the satisfaction of knowing they have helped students complete their education.”I think that people find them [the studies] interesting and enjoy the university and helping students, so [there are] a lot of benefits to it,” said Amanda Poe, lab assistant at the Carnegie Mellon Research Cafe.Up on the second floor of Fifth Avenue Place, nestled in the corner and surrounded by eateries, sits the research cafe. It attracts many participants on their lunch break because of its location.At the cafe, participants are tested on how they make decisions, according to Poe.”We have a number of different studies that range from financial decisions to health decisions,” Poe said.Studies can be done on paper or computer or even involve a hands-on activity, according to Poe.Poe explained that Carnegie Mellon University students come up with the study and send it to the cafe to get the data they need.”As far as the student studies go, they develop the study [and] they analyze the data,” Poe said. “Our basic task is to just run the study for them.”The subject of the studies can vary from week to week at the lab.They have been working on their current study, the advice study, for a few months and it includes about 595 participants.”We’re pretty pleased with the advice study. It is our largest one yet,” said Poe.During the week of Sept. 20, the lab will be doing a light bulb study as well as a snack study, according to Poe.The light bulb study, entitled “online shopping study,” asks participants to go through an online shopping trip and pick which products they like.The snack study asks participants to choose between several different snacks, and at the end of the study they get that snack, according to Poe.On top of being compensated for taking a few minutes out of the day to take a survey, participants benefit from being able to help student researchers.Ali Lewis, a sophomore sport, arts, and entertainment major, has never heard of the cafe, but said she definitely wants to check it out.”I’m all about helping the students.” Lewis said. “And I can always put a Target gift card to use.”In order to collect any data for the students to analyze, the cafe needs to recruit participants on a daily basis.Poe, who stands outside the cafe during lunchtime asking people to take the study, said the cafe has tried everything from Craigslist to flyers around campus.”Sometimes, we will even go outside and try to grab people off the street,” Poe said. “It just takes time, and it varies on a given day how many people we get.”The cafe’s biggest recruitment comes from their e-mail list, which holds the contacts of all the participants who worked with the cafe in the past.At the cafe, participants are allowed to take each study one time.”People are only allowed to do each study one time, but they can do all the studies if they want,” Poe said.Another minor restriction that the cafe has in place is that participants must be at least 18 years old, according to Poe.Poe said she hoped to get the word out about the cafe. They will be recruiting people and “anyone is welcome to come.”James Barrett a junior dance major said that he also wants to get involved with the cafe.”It’s simple, and it’s helping,” Barrett said about the benefits of participating in the café studies..Poe added that they are always open to new ideas to implement. “I think it’s a really good thing,” Poe said. “We get a different kind of demographic than we would just working at the university.” 

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