Running Economics Experiments at SERL Sandro Ambuehl Department of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Running Economics Experiments at SERL

Sandro Ambuehl

Department of Economics, Stanford University

September 2013

Subject recruiting

We’ve got many new subjects

• 321 since September 12

Recruiting efforts to date

• facebook ads
• emails to all dorms, classes, departments (THANKS to

everyone who helped!)

• ad and coupon in the unofficial Stanford guide distributed to

all students

• this week: 525 flyers were posted on undergraduate bulletin

boards

Additional recruiting efforts?

• some of new signups are graduate students
• size of incoming freshmen class 2012: about 1700.

Handling of coupons

Subjects can exchange coupons from unofficial Stanford guide for 5 $ upon participation

• only paid after participation
• each person can only exchange one coupon this year!
• check google doc with names of people who have already

exchanged a coupon

• the $ 5.- is paid by whomever is running the experiment, so be

sure to have enough cash

• all other options are an administrative nightmare
• if you’re running on your own student budget, get reimbursed

by your advisor ex post

• one payment form per subject – add the 5 dollars to it!

Administrative issues

Taxes

• each study is on average 15 % (maximum about 20 %) more

expensive than what you pay in cash due to taxes

IRB

• we have applied for a blanket approval
• IRB accreditation visit October 2013, so things might be a bit

slower

Advances

Getting an advance

• allow 5 business days for deposit
• send an email to Susan, copy faculty advisor
• no response by the advisor means that the advisor approves
• include
• name of study, name of all professors and RAs involved
• IRB protocol number
• quarter for which the advance is paid
• expected number of subjects, expected amount per subject
• total advance requested

Clear all accounts by end of quarter!

Inviting subjects

Recruiting emails through SONA

• the lab is currently operating at maximal capacity
• I coordinate the emails to the subject pool.
• will send email twice a week (we don’t want to spam the

subject pool).

• put your studies are up by Sunday at noon, and by Wednesday

at noon each week (but not much earlier to avoid dispersion

• f subjects).

Maintaining order

Complaints about people who leave the lab in a mess after running.

Setup to restore AFTER you ran your study

• wall not drawn
• dividers up
• computers in numbered order, and each computer has a mouse
• each computer either plugged in or fully shut down (NOT

asleep – if battery dies this hurts stability)

• chairs and tables in neat row
• no paper, calculators, headphones, etc. and no trash lying

around

Little room next to lab

• put all your paperwork in a folder / box. Put your name on it
• when a study is completely finished, take all materials out of

this room, and put it in storage closets in the hallway

Borrowing computers from the lab to code ztree

You can borrow a computer. BUT

• signup sheet in interior of the computer cage. USE IT!
• use the nameless computer first
• at no time may more than three computers be out of the lab
• you may have to bring back computers VERY quickly if

they’re needed

Payment forms

Use NEW payment forms!!!

• download from SERL homepage

https://sites.stanford.edu/SERL/

• there’s a lot of (irrelevant) legal information on the new forms
• it means that nobody has to pay taxes on the cash they get

from us, Stanford pays for all of it

• but some people will get a letter from the IRS informing them

that Stanford paid some taxes for them

• at other Stanford labs, this is different

Payment forms

Make sure no information is lacking on the payment forms!!

• including signatures from both subject and you
• have the correct study information on the payment forms

(IRB number, study name)

• make sure all text is legible!
• administrators have to laboriously research all lacking

information!

• what would an auditor want to see?

Administrative issues

Cash

• once you get an advance, it is formally your money.
• you’ll have to pay back ever cent of which you cannot prove

that you’ve disbursed to a subject

• so keep your cash safe (don’t keep large amounts of cash in

the department)

• do not comingle funds

Record retention

• you MUST secure all records for study
• records must be stored in locked SERL file cabinets (securely,

confidentially, indefinitely – clearly labeled). NOT in cubes!

Thanks for your attention

These slides are on https://sites.stanford.edu/SERL/