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Psychology Lab Report and Budget Request
2013 – 2014
Kerry S. Kleyman, Ph.D.
Kimberly Halvorson, Ph.D.
Valerie Wilwert
Psychology Department, Metropolitan State University
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Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Faculty Research .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Student Research .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Budget Request (version 1)
One Time Requested Items .................................................................................................................. 14
Annual Budget Request (Recurring) ..................................................................................................... 14
Budget Request (version 1)
One Time Requested Items .................................................................................................................. 16
Annual Budget Request (Recurring) ..................................................................................................... 16
Psychology Lab Usage Report ..................................................................................................................... 18
Appendix A .................................................................................................................................................. 25
Appendix B .................................................................................................................................................. 27
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At its conception, the Psychology Lab was intended to offer students enrolled in introductory
psychology courses a hands-on opportunity to explore some common laboratory tasks used in
psychological research. Today, the Psychology Lab has become a highly-used, interdisciplinary center
for students and faculty to engage in collaborative learning and engaging in the process of conducting
scientific research at Metropolitan State University. The Psychology Lab’s primary functions are to
provide resources and assistance to all students in need of tutoring and introduce students to the
process of psychological research. The lab also supports course requirements associated with Research
Methods and Statistics courses, study rooms, printing resources, and serves as an on-campus meeting
area. The lab is used for both classes and individuals throughout the academic year and summer
months.
The current budget for the Psychology Lab is $59,367.03, with nearly 93% of the total amount
allocated to personnel (i.e. compensation for the lab manager and student workers). The remaining
budget covers the expenses of the toner cartridges required to maintain the printer in the lab. The
current activities of the Psychology Lab are barely sustainable under the existing budget constraints,
which leaves no room for supporting new faculty research programs or fostering opportunities for
student-faculty collaboration and individual student projects. This report is designed to provide
rationale and justification for a sizeable increase in this budget due to the large amount of student usage
the Psychology Lab is currently hosting and significant increases in anticipated usage for both faculty and
students.
The Current State of the Psychology Lab
Historically, the Psychology Lab has provided classroom support for students, from orientations
to introductions to various experimental methodologies. In the past, the number of courses utilizing the
lab to supplement in-class learning was small; usage was limited to a few PSYC250 Academic and Career
Pathways courses. Currently, there are several courses that use the Psychology Lab to supplement the
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coursework, including Academic and Career Pathways (8 sections annually), Introduction to Psychology
(8 sections annually), Research Methods (10 sections annually), Human Factors (2 sections annually),
and Cognitive Psychology (2 sections annually). These courses use a variety of software and resources,
including SurveyMonkey, BioPac, Qualtrics, PsychMate, SuperLab, and E-Prime. Student workers
conduct lab orientations with students from these courses, which typically take 30-40 minutes per
student. They also conduct one-on-one training on specific software packages with students, and assist
in formatting in APA style, the style required by the American Psychological Association.
Students also utilize the Psychology Lab for tutoring. This is one of the largest growing areas of
lab use, including general tutoring, assistance with methodologies, and help with statistical analyses. To
be effective in providing this support to students, both in and out of the psychology major, it is
important to have student workers who are knowledgeable in areas of research methods and statistics.
Unfortunately, because many of our undergraduate students come into the program with a large
percentage of credits, there are not many who have a full year of research experience to work in the lab.
The creation of Graduate Research Assistant positions supported by the Psychology Lab would provide
an excellent solution to the current shortage of qualified individuals to work in the lab. Because
graduate students entering the program are required to have experience in research methods and
statistics, they represent a prime group of students to serve as tutors and mentors to undergraduates.
Moreover, tutoring, mentoring undergraduate research projects, leading study groups, and other
activities in which graduate students would engage during their time as research assistants would
provide invaluable and highly relevant training and experience necessary for their post-graduate
careers.
Faculty Research
With several new faculty members joining the Psychology Department in the last five years,
faculty research is on the rise in the Psychology Department. Many of the faculty wish to continue their
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current or previous programs of research on site at Metropolitan State University; in the past, faculty
have had to find creative ways to conduct this research due to limited resources in the Psychology Lab.
As part of the professional development needed for tenure and promotion, access to equipment to
continue faculty research is of the utmost importance. There are several resources that could facilitate
research and interdisciplinary collaboration that could be housed in the Psychology Lab.
Software
Software is one of the biggest resources for psychological research. In the area of social
sciences, many of the faculty design and conduct behavioral experiments intended to investigate
phenomena of human behavior and cognition that cannot be measured simply by observation or selfreport. These experiments may require measuring reaction times, involve subtle experimental
manipulations (e.g. priming studies), and/or require extensive surveys or questionnaires – many of
which could be disseminated online with the aid of the appropriate software. The proposed budget
request includes a list of some current software requests necessary for researchers to use the
methodologies described above. Some of the requests are a one-time purchase, and updates are
typically required every five years. Others are subscription-based and require an annual license. These
software needs are essential to the methodological and experimental rigor that is expected of
psychological research.
Another critical addition is the SONA system. The SONA system is a subject pool management
software package based on usage. Over 95% of 4 Year-Colleges and Universities in the United States
have this type of subject pool software in place; this software offers researcher and research
participants an opportunity to communicate directly about opportunities for involvement. This type of
system increases the amount of research opportunities available to students and researchers, thereby
increasing the likelihood that research conducted on-site will result in advances that can be shared
publicly and professionally. A five year plan is being proposed to institute the SONA system at
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Metropolitan State University. This plan would begin with a sampling of psychology courses utilizing the
subject pool as part of their course curriculum. After a test run of the system in the first year, the SONA
system would be made available University-wide. The requirements for a department to access the
SONA system would be to provide classes to the subject pool and that the principal investigators have
an approved HSRB protocol. In the previous years as the amount of research has grown, especially
within the Psychology Department, and the benefit of having students take part in hands-on learning of
the research process has become more apparent, the call for a subject pool has been echoed by
numerous departments.
Finally, in addition to serving the tutoring needs of undergraduate students, graduate research
assistants are much needed in the Psychology Lab to assist with Faculty research as well. For example,
in Dr. Halvorson’s research, each experiment requires roughly 25 participants; ideally, Dr. Halvorson
could conduct approximately 6-8 experiments per semester for a total research participation need of
around 200 subjects/semester. These research participation hours would be primarily overseen by the
graduate assistants. Research assistants would be extensively involved in the process of preparing and
programming experiments, collecting data, and preparing the data for analysis. Throughout this
process, assistants are critically engaged in the research project with the potential to be included as an
author on a subsequent publication or presentation. The data collected from these experiments has the
potential to be presented at conferences or published in scholarly journals; this process would directly
involve undergraduate and graduate students in all aspects of the research process – from
designing/running experiments as assistants to taking part in experiments as subjects – thereby
exposing students to the process of conducting scientific research in the area of cognitive science at
Metropolitan State.
Brain and Behavior Sciences Lab
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As part of the one-time requests for funds, the Psychology Lab requests funds to support an
Electroencephalogram (EEG)/Event-Related Potentials (ERP) neurophysiological research lab. The
technology involved in EEG/ERP methodology allows researchers to use a non-invasive combination of
electrodes, conductance gel, and an amplifier to record and analyze electrical output associated with
brain activity under different conditions for the purposes of studying the brain’s reaction to stimuli at
very short, behaviorally unobservable timescales. In addition to measuring brain activity, the equipment
included in this budget can be used to measure heart rate variability, galvanic skin response, and other
physiological indices of relaxation or arousal. These tools allow researchers access to a host of
neurobiological information at a relatively low cost compared to other methods of neuroimaging (such
as fMRI) while still exposing students to the methodologies and techniques within cognitive and social
neuroscience.
There are many ongoing research interests within the psychology department that would be
enhanced and facilitated with the acquisition of an EEG/ERP booth. For example, Dr. Caitlin Mahoney
conducts research on how emotions like compassion, joy, and altruism influence our decisions and our
behavior toward others. By measuring physiological indices of these emotions – like galvanic skin
response (or sweating) and heart rate – real time information about the sympathetic nervous system
can be recorded in addition to self-reported measures of emotional states.
Another example of the potential use of this equipment would be studies of early auditory (Dr.
Gary Starr’s research) and visual perceptual effects (Dr. Kim Halvorson’s research); many visual attention
phenomena – for example, rapid shifts of attention – take place within the first 150 milliseconds after
the stimulus has been detected. As this timeframe is well before a manual or vocal response can be
made (the fast responses are typically at least 250 milliseconds or more), examining differences in the
electrical output from specific regions of the brain 40, 60, or 100 milliseconds after the onset of a
stimulus can lead to insights into perceptual mechanisms that cannot be measured behaviorally.
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Finally, there are unique electrical signals (known as the lateralized readiness potential, or LRP)
associated with the brain’s preparation for making a physical response – either with the hands or the
feet – that occur after perceptual processing has taken place but before the response is actually
executed. These markers can indicate the extent to which a certain effector (hand or foot) was
prepared to make a response following the stimulus presentation; in many cases the visual information
is misleading and participants “prepare” to make a response that is different than the one they actually
produce. Although some preliminary studies conducted by Dr. Halvorson have shown that such
preparation can slightly slow overall response times, these differences are subtle and not always
statistically significant. As such, it is unclear exactly what information participants are using to prepare
responses. ERP studies measuring the LRP to various stimuli could potentially illuminate the critical
information participants extract from the stimuli when deciding which response to make and what type
of information is most misleading. Although these examples represent just a small amount of the type
and variety of research that could be supported with such tools, they also demonstrate the level of
expertise, interest, and potential for use is well-established.
Appendices A and B contain two different budget proposals obtained from two different
companies. After speaking with representatives on the phone and researching the needs of the
department and in accordance with the guidelines for conducting EEG and ERP research with human
participants as outlined in the NIH supported article in Current Publications in Neuroscience (Light,
Willaims, Minow, Sprock, Rissling, Sharp, Swerdlow & Braff, 2010), these two quotes offer two different
means of obtaining EEG/ERP systems. The first is a large figure that would establish a state of the art
EEG/ERP lab with brand new active electrode technology, and the second would support a smaller setup
that would provide basic physiological and some event-related potentials recording capabilities.
Finally, the budget includes a request to have cortisol testing kits in the psychology lab. Much
like EEG measures of neural functioning, cortisol strips are a reliable, non-invasive method of measuring
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the humans’ levels of stress. Cortisol strips test for the presence of hormones (i.e. cortisol and alpha
amylase levels in saliva) that are excellent markers of both chronic (cortisol) and acute (alpha amylase)
fluctuations in stress levels. Additionally, recent research has suggested that long-term, or chronic,
stress can influence a host of psychological and developmental phenomenon including specific tests of
executive function like task switching and multi-tasking. Future studies on the influence of stress on
these low-level cognitive operations could benefit dramatically from the additional measure of cortisol
levels.
Student Research
With approximately ten sections of Research Methods per year, undergraduate student
research has shown a rapid growth recently. In the past few years, many instructors have had
undergraduate students presenting their research projects are MUPC (Minnesota Undergraduate
Psychology Conference), MNPA (Minnesota Psychological Association), MPA (Midwestern Psychological
Association), APS (Association for Psychological Science), APA (American Psychological Association),
SPSP (Society of Personality and Social Psychology), ISPP (International Society of Political Psychology),
and a few others. Many of the instructors of Research Methods also have a strong presentation
component as part of the student’s final grade, which equates somewhat to a senior thesis. With the
amount of presentations, primarily poster presentations, the need for a poster printer in the Psychology
Lab is an absolute necessity. Last year alone, we had 20+ students presenting posters at MUPC, eight at
SPSP, and several at MPA. This fall, in one section of Research Methods alone, at least seven projects
are being prepared to be presented at the Fall Psychology Department Research Colloquium. There is a
poster printer in Student Life, but the largest size is about half the size of the normal poster presentation
requirements for psychological conferences.
Further, students are becoming more actively involved in doing larger scale experimental and
survey research, and many express interest in working on faculty research as well. The Psychology Lab
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aims to create an environment to assist in these collaborations, and have the resources available that
are necessary to complete the work.
Growth of the Graduate Program
The graduate program in Psychology has seen steady growth since its inception ten years ago.
During this time, the breadth of the program has grown as well, including not only community research
and interventions, but experimental research conducted on site as well. Due to this growth, one of the
Psychology Lab’s crucial functions has been to serve as a place for graduate student study groups and
GRE study groups, as many are concurrently preparing for PHD programs as they complete their
coursework and research requirement. It has also served as a resource for experimental software and
statistical tools necessary to complete their projects and/or theses.
The success of some of the students in the program serves as a testament to the need for
increasing the support of increasing available resources in the lab. Many have presented their research
at national and international conferences, and several have published scholarly papers and book
chapters either independently or with their faculty advisor. Increasing the support and resources of the
Psychology Lab would only serve to dramatically increase this type of scholarly activity among graduate
students.
Based on the growing interest in a strong program of research within the graduate program, the
Psychology Lab has begun to hire graduate students to work in the lab over the last two years. We have
found this to be an extremely successful venture, as the days the graduate students are staffed tend to
be the highest traffic days in the lab, and there are many more appointment reservations for the times
they are available. This strongly suggests the importance of having graduate research assistants
available during lab hours to help undergraduate students. Further, many research methods courses
send their students to the lab for assistance specifically when graduate students are on staff. The ability
to offer graduate research assistantships can also be used as a marketing tool for the graduate program,
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to encourage a larger and more experienced pool of applicants. However, their availability and funding
is limited to the hourly wage currently supported by a temporary budget approval. Graduate research
assistantships for full-time graduate students that include monthly stipends and tuition remission would
dramatically increase the availability of their services and opportunity to engage in research by
alleviating some of the financial struggles associated with paying for graduate school.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
As the course offerings and degree programs at Metropolitan State University continue to
expand, the Psychology department and Psychology Lab not only increase the variety of course offerings
and research opportunities within the department, but forge new connections with other departments.
Recently, under the lead of Drs. Craig Hanson and Quan Zhou, the College of Communication, Writing,
and the Arts has proposed a new minor in the area of technical communications and document design
for undergraduate students interested in earning a minor in Design of User Experience. In partial
fulfillment of this minor students will be required to take the Cognitive Psychology course currently
offered by the Psychology department. In the short term, this collaboration emphasizes the need for a
fully equipped lab to provide the increasing number of students university-wide enrolled in Psychology
courses access and exposure to hands-on experience with psychological research. In the long term,
students and faculty involved in the Design of User Experience minor may wish to collaborate on
research projects involving the behavioral or neurophysiological methods described above. In this way,
the resources requested here not only serve to enhance the student experience and degree program in
the Psychology Department, but will also play a significant role in multi-departmental collaborations
between students and faculty.
The Future of the Psychology Lab
Included in this report is the Psychology Lab’s five year plan to transform the Psychology Lab
into a resource not only for psychology students, but to offer new services and assistance to other
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disciplines and departments as well. Among the new events and services to be instituted this year are a
plan to host a brown bag series for students and faculty, creating training materials on new software
packages, and the creation of specific study groups (e.g. GRE prep, etc.). More immediately, once
purchased, the SONA system is the highest order of business for the Psychology Lab so that a subject
pool can be made available for psychological research for faculty and graduate students. We have
currently been working with the HSRB to make sure that we have a very clear system in place, and after
a very short test period, aim to make this service available University-wide.
The employment of undergraduate student workers is still necessary, as they have traditionally
run lab orientations, updated lab materials, and conducted software training and assistance. These
needs are ongoing, and are being met by the current budget for undergraduate student workers. The
additional graduate research assistants included in the proposal will allow the lab to be more effective in
tutoring and research assistance, and offer previously unavailable assistance in helping students hone
their research skills and projects for class and professional presentations. Part of this process will be
assisting in designing and printing professional posters for regional, national, and international
conferences, or assisting in the creation of PowerPoint slideshows for oral presentations.
Further, all student workers (graduate and undergraduate) will assist in planning brown bags,
updating possible internship opportunities, utilizing graduate school preparation resources, and working
on the Psychology Lab newsletter.
Summary
The Psychology Lab is currently in a position that leaves many students and faculty with
insufficient or outdated resources. It is the hope that the University recognizes the valuable
contributions these proposed updates can have not only for the Psychology Department, but for the
University as a whole. Psychology is a discipline that requires graduate training to work in the field, and
that training necessarily requires direct experience with the process of conducting scientific research.
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The aim of the current proposal is to give students greater opportunities for such involvement by
working with faculty who will also have the resources to continue their own program of research.
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Budget Request (version 1)
1) One-Time Budget Request
i)
Headsets with microphones (X2) ..................................................................................... $60.00
ii) Transcription Software and Technologies ...................................................................... $350.00
iii) Button Box for collecting manual responses/response time data (with footpedal)...... $500.00
iv) Biopac .......................................................................................................................... $1,795.00
v) SuperLab ...................................................................................................................... $2,195.00
vi) Canon imagePROGRAF iPF605 Inkjet Large Format Printer - 24" – Color w/stand .... $1,500.00
vii) Acti-champ EEG/ERP system and supplies…………………………………………………………….$37,297.10
2) Annual Budget Request
a) Graduate Research Assistantship
i)
GRA Stipend (assuming monthly stipend of $1200 for 9 months X 3)……………………$32,400.00
ii) Fringe (benefits)..……………………………………………………………………………………………………$8,724.00
iii) Tuition Remission ...................................................................................................................... ?
b) Annual Subscriptions and Supplies
i)
MatLab............................................................................................................................ $500.00
ii) SONA Subject Pool Software ....................................................................................... $1,400.00
iii) Survey Monkey Annual License ...................................................................................... $299.00
iv) PsychMate (5 accounts) ................................................................................................. $400.00
v) Qualtrics/SurveyGizmo ........................................................................................... $900 - $2500
vi) Cortisol testing strips…………………………………………………………………………………………………$395.00
c) General Office
i)
Salary for Lab Manager/Coordinator ........................................................................ $42,000.00
ii) Student Assistants (3 undergraduate/20 hours week year round) ........................... $24,960.00
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iii) Phone.............................................................................................................................. $500.00
iv) Printer Toner Cartridges .............................................................................................. $2,000.00
v) Poster Paper ................................................................................................................... $250.00
vi) Poster Printer Cartridges ............................................................................................. $1,500.00
vii) General Office Supplies .................................................................................................. $500.00
viii) Books (GRE, Graduate School Guides, etc.) ................................................................... $250.00
d) Annual maintenance and equipment costs (15% total budget) ...................................... $23,966.27
Summary of Budget Request
One Time Budget Request..................................................................................................... $43,697.10
Annual Budget
Graduate RA Positions...................................................................................................... $41,124.00
Annual Subscriptions and Supplies .................................................................................... $2,994.00
Personnel.......................................................................................................................... $66,960.00
Office Supplies .................................................................................................................... $5,000.00
Annual maintenance and equipment fees (15% total budget) ......................................... $23,966.27
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Budget Request (version 2)
1) One-Time Budget Request
i)
Headsets with microphones (X2) ..................................................................................... $60.00
ii) Transcription Software and Technologies ...................................................................... $350.00
iii) Button Box for collecting manual responses/response time data (with footpedal) ...... $500.00
iv) Biopac .......................................................................................................................... $1,795.00
v) SuperLab ...................................................................................................................... $2,195.00
vi) Canon imagePROGRAF iPF605 Inkjet Large Format Printer - 24" – Color w/stand .... $1,500.00
vii) BioPac EEG/ERP system and supplies........................................................................ $18,653.10
2) Annual Budget Request
a) Graduate Research Assistantship
i)
GRA Stipend (assuming monthly stipend of $1200 for 9 months X 3)……………………$32,400.00
ii) Fringe (benefits)..…………………………………………………………………………………………………….$8724.00
iii) Tuition Remission ...................................................................................................................... ?
b) Annual Subscriptions and Supplies
i)
MatLab............................................................................................................................ $500.00
ii) SONA Subject Pool Software ....................................................................................... $1,400.00
iii) Survey Monkey Annual License ...................................................................................... $299.00
iv) PsychMate (5 accounts) ................................................................................................. $400.00
v) Qualtrics/SurveyGizmo ........................................................................................... $900 - $2500
vi) Cortisol testing strips…………………………………………………………………………………………………$395.00
c) General Office
i)
Salary for Lab Manager/Coordinator ........................................................................ $42,000.00
ii) Student Assistants (3 undergraduate/20 hours week year round) ........................... $24,960.00
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iii) Phone.............................................................................................................................. $500.00
iv) Printer Toner Cartridges .............................................................................................. $2,000.00
v) Poster Paper ................................................................................................................... $250.00
vi) Poster Printer Cartridges ............................................................................................. $1,500.00
vii) General Office Supplies .................................................................................................. $500.00
viii) Books (GRE, Graduate School Guides, etc.) ................................................................... $250.00
d) Annual maintenance and equipment costs (15% total budget) ...................................... $21,169.67
Summary of Budget Request
One Time Budget Request..................................................................................................... $25,053.10
Annual Budget
Graduate RA Positions...................................................................................................... $41,124.00
Annual Subscriptions and Supplies .................................................................................... $2,994.00
Personnel.......................................................................................................................... $66,960.00
Office Supplies .................................................................................................................... $5,000.00
Annual maintenance and equipment fees (15% total budget) ......................................... $21,169.67
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Psychology Lab Usage Report
Valerie Wilwert (Graduate Student and Student Lab Assistant)
The Psychology Lab is located in the lower level of the New Main Building on the St. Paul
Campus of Metropolitan State University. The lab has been in operation since 1994, and serves many
purposes for students of the university. Students in psychology classes are informed about the
Psychology Lab (hours, resources, scheduling, etc.) at the beginning of each semester, and are
encouraged to use the lab as an additional resource in completing coursework, tutoring, assistance with
research projects, and statistical assistance. Classes in the Psychology Department are generally held on
the Midway Campus, creating a transportation need for students wishing to use the lab. Students can
call ahead for an appointment to meet with a student worker, but walk-ins are also welcomed during
regular hours of operation.
While the majority of visitors come to access equipment for assignments in the psychology
department (78.3%), use is not limited to psychology majors. Other departments that have made use of
the Psychology Lab include (but are not limited to: Communications, IT, Literature, College of
Individualized Studies, and Mathematics).
Student workers are both graduate and undergraduate level students, with advanced
comprehension of course concepts, theory, application, and research methods. Student workers work
under the supervision of the Psychology Lab coordinator, and they are available to assist students with a
variety of tasks related to required coursework. Students can seek tutoring related to use of SPSS
program for statistical analysis, assistance in writing APA-style manuscripts, assistance in understanding
theory and applications in the field of psychology, as well as use of laboratory equipment to complete
simple experiments in sensation and perception and other areas of psychology.
Currently, the Psychology Lab has a supply of resources available for student use (either in the
lab or to check out) including a library of relevant texts to the subject, APA and SPSS manuals, and
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student resources for the psychology program. Additionally, there is laboratory equipment for basic
experiments, a total of three quiet study rooms for individual use, and an open classroom area for larger
group meetings and discussions. Computers and printers are currently available for student use.
Projector equipment is also available for larger group meetings and class meetings.
The purpose of this report was to assess frequency, duration, and purpose of lab use from 20042013, in order to evaluate growth and change over this period of time. It is also of interest to assess who
is using the lab and when they are using it, in order to fit staffing to student needs. Finally, in
determining growth and purpose of visits over time, it can be determined what equipment upgrades
and additions will be needed in future years.
Methodology
Data collection for assessing lab use was compiled through daily sign-in sheets for the
Psychology Lab, as well as logs of full class orientations. Frequency of use was assessed, comparing use
by departments, day of the week, time of day, assigning instructor, and academic year.
Sign-in Logs
The sign-in sheets are located on a clipboard on a table in the entry area of the Psychology Lab,
and students are encouraged to sign in by a brightly colored sign on the wall. Even with the sign and
reminders by the staff, it is likely that students may occasionally visit the Psychology Lab without making
use of the sign-in sheets, leaving data collection incomplete in assessing total use. Regardless, sign-in
sheets are currently the most effective way to assess student lab use.
Sign-in sheets ask for basic information regarding the visit: date, time of entrance and exit,
name, purpose of visit, and the name of the instructor for which the classwork is assigned. Some sample
responses are offered in the area titled “reason for visit,” (orientation, class assignment, lab partner) but
the space is open for students to fill in as they see fit, creating some variance in typical responses.
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Students generally fill out all the requested items; however it is not uncommon for the assigning
instructor and purpose for the visit to be left blank.
Full Class Orientations
Data related to full class orientations is limited to the date, the facilitating instructor, and the
class. Full class orientations generally consist of approximately 25 students and generally last between
60-90 minutes, with additional class time (up to the full scheduled class time) available to answer
questions or demonstrate use of lab equipment.
Data Analysis
Lab Use (by Academic Year)
Lab use has been fairly steady during the past 10 years, with an increase being seen during the
last two school years (beginning 2011-2012). The first years of the lab saw high levels of use, possibly
being attributed to increased mention of it in classes during the novelty phase. Lab use was fairly steady
in the following six school years, and then began to climb again in 2011. New faculty in the Psychology
Department may have brought a renewed interest in the lab facilities, and information about the lab
was likely presented to classes more frequently. (See chart below)
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Lab Use (Day of the Week)
Lab use throughout the week is very consistent each day, with almost equal distribution of use
throughout each day of the week (17-20% each day). Generally, the lab is open Monday through
Thursday, and for limited hours on Saturday mornings. Lab use on Fridays has been limited to byappointment-only, leading to lower levels of use than other days. However, in the current academic
year, the lab has begun having open hours on Fridays and has seen quite a bit of traffic (see chart
below).
Time of Day
The Lab is open from 10am until 8pm on Monday through Thursday, and from 10am until 2pm
on Saturdays. For the purpose of analysis, lab use was classified into three time periods, morning
(10am-12pm), afternoon (12-4pm), evening (4-8pm). Again, it was found that lab use was relatively
consistent throughout the day, with slightly more traffic in the afternoon hours than during the
morning and evening (see table below).
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Table 1
Lab Use (Time of Day)
Time
____Frequency
Percentage_______
Morning (10am-11:59am)
1020
34.6%
Afternoon (12pm-3:59pm)
1163
39.5%
Evening (4pm-8pm)
762
25.9%
Lab Use (Reasons)
Students can come into the Psychology Lab to work on one particular assignment, or many.
Additionally, tutoring is available in a variety of areas (SPSS, APA format, laboratory experiments, etc),
often leading to the lab being used for multiple reasons in a single visit. Many students come in to the
lab to complete course requirements of Introductory Psychology, including a general orientation to the
lab and various sensation and perception experiments that demonstrate concepts presented in the
introductory course. Other reasons for lab use include tutoring in SPSS and APA format, studying, use of
the textbook library, meeting with small groups, and using the computers for research (see chart below).
Thirty-four class orientations have taken place in the lab since 2008, and a GRE study group
(comprised of students in the Psychology Department) has met in the lab, as well. Interviews have taken
place in the lab, people complete tests in the Psych Lab and make up videos missed in class. People
meet to discuss internships, meet with students and professors, tutor students in the department.
(Many of these are covered in the “other category,” if they aren’t listed in their own category.)
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Discussion
Since the 2003-2004 school year, the Psychology Lab has been open for use by students in the
Psychology Department and other departments at Metropolitan State University. Growth of lab use has
led to changes in hours to accommodate the schedules of Metro State students, who are often working
professionals. This growth has also led to changes in equipment and personnel to staff and supply the
lab, in order to meet the needs of a growing student population.
Proper application of concepts is a key component of the psychology program, and the
psychology lab provides an opportunity for students to utilize equipment to help further their
understanding of course concepts. Students that are in the program are expected to write all reports
and papers using APA format, leading to challenges for those familiar only with MLA from previous
coursework. The Psychology Lab has resources and staff available to help students in making that
transition in their writing. Whatever the assignment, the Psychology Lab aims to help students to
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advance their understanding in the field, using a variety of different resources. The resources that are
currently being utilized do require some updating from time to time, and additional funding will be
necessary in order to complete these updates.
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References
Light, G. A., Williams, M. A., Minow, F., Sprock, J., Rissling, A., Sharp, R., Swerdlow, N. R., & Braff, D. L.
2010. Electoencephalography (EEG) and Event-Related Potentials (ERP’s) with human
participants. Current protocols in Neuroscience, 52 (6), 1-32.
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