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. 2020 Apr 24;10(4):251.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci10040251.

Building, Hosting and Recruiting: A Brief Introduction to Running Behavioral Experiments Online

Marian Sauter  1 , Dejan Draschkow  2 , Wolfgang Mack  1
Affiliations

Building, Hosting and Recruiting: A Brief Introduction to Running Behavioral Experiments Online

Marian Sauter et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Researchers have ample reasons to take their experimental studies out of the lab and into the online wilderness. For some, it is out of necessity, due to an unforeseen laboratory closure or difficulties in recruiting on-site participants. Others want to benefit from the large and diverse online population. However, the transition from in-lab to online data acquisition is not trivial and might seem overwhelming at first. To facilitate this transition, we present an overview of actively maintained solutions for the critical components of successful online data acquisition: creating, hosting and recruiting. Our aim is to provide a brief introductory resource and discuss important considerations for researchers who are taking their first steps towards online experimentation.

Keywords: behavioral sciences; online experiments; online methods; remote testing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic flow of conducting online experiments. First, experiments are created with an experiment builder. The compiled experimental files are then uploaded to an online host, which generates a link, making the study accessible online (potentially with the aid of a study management system). Participants are recruited through recruitment platforms and access the online experiments on the host. The data is stored on the hosting server.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Simplified overview of benefits of online experimentation and recruiting (A) as well as suggestions for building online experiments (B), hosting online studies (C) and recruiting participants online (D).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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