The Haas School of Business invites you participate in research conducted by faculty and graduate students at Haas. These experiments offer you the opportunity to learn about research in business, and may even be fun! Paid experiments are compensated on average $15/hr.

To sign up, go to http://berkeley.sona-systems.com and create an account. Experiments are posted regularly.

Location of Behavioral Lab in Haas

The majority of the studies occur on the 5th floor of the Haas School faculty building, F503, F505 or on the 2nd floor of the Student Services building S212 and S214. Here’s a perspective view of campus for reference.

Research Participation Program

Frequently asked questions about RPP.

Fall 2024 Requirements and Timeline

UGBA 105: You will be required to complete up to 5 hours of OB studies.

UGBA 106: You will be required to complete up to 3.5 hours of Marketing studies.

The Fall 2024 RPP window for UGBA 105 is October 14th – December 15th

The Fall 2024 RPP window for UGBA 106 is October 21st – December 15th

Any issues that come up during RPP should be reported to this Google Form— or by emailing [email protected].

Alternative Assignment

If you choose to not participate in studies for your class you can fulfill the credit
requirement by creating a recorded presentation summarizing and responding to a
journal article related to your course (an Organizational Behavior journal for UGBA 105
or a Marketing journal for UGBA 106). You can also complete the alternative
assignment to make up credits that you did not earn by participating in studies. The
Behavioral lab does not provide specific articles for this assignment. We encourage you to consider articles published in the last three years in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (for UGBA105) or Journal of Consumer Research (for
UGBA106).

The presentation you create should be at least 10 slides in length. One presentation that includes 10 slides is worth 1 credit. If you choose to do the alternative assignment for more than 1 credit, you will need to research another article and do another presentation worth 10 slides (e.g. 1 credit = 1 presentation of 10 slides, 2 credits = 2 presentations with 10 slides each).  If you are submitting multiple presentations, please submit multiple versions of this form, attaching one presentation each. Although the content of the slides and presentation is up to you, the presentation and slides should include each of the following:

1. An analysis of the Introduction. In what way does the research reported in the article
build on the efforts of past researchers? What is the new idea being proposed? What
makes the idea plausible? Also, why might the idea not be correct?

2. An analysis of the research methods. Explain the methods used by the researchers
to test the idea they are proposing. Consider the strengths of the methods. Be sure to
suggest at least one way in which the methods could be improved.

3. A Consideration of the Results. What, concretely, did the researchers find? How did
the pattern of results that emerged overlap with and/or diverge from what the
researchers predicted? In what ways do the results confirm versus contradict the theory
put forward by the authors?

4. Your own Discussion. Informed by the authors’ Discussion section, consider what can
be concluded in terms from the article. Consider being a researcher and what additional
data you would want to collect to extend on the results. Discuss real-world implications
of the research and how you would apply the results in practice.

The slide deck should be accompanied by an audio or video presentation of you
discussing your summary of the article, your consideration of the questions posed
above, as well as additional analysis of the article.

You should submit your presentation slides in a pptx or pdf format as well as an audio
or audio-visual file by the end of RPP to this form: https://forms.gle/QBC8Vq64mejtjCVx5.

The form will ask you to designate your class,
section, email, and submit your assignment. If you are submitting multiple
presentations, please submit multiple versions of this form, attaching one presentation
each.

Academic Integrity: This assignment requires you to personally read and analyze an
academic article. Note that AI tools, including ChatGPT and similar products, are not
acceptable for use. Using such tools—because they would undermine this assignment’s
goal of encouraging critical thinking and analysis—would be considered a violation of
Berkeley’s Academic Integrity policy.

Using the SONA system

  • Studies will still take place at BLab in Haas or in Xlab (below Hearst Gym) but sign ups and participation tracking are administered online. Your account will be set up by the Behavioral Lab Manager (2 weeks before the start of your RPP window for both UGBA 105 and 106).
    When you complete an RPP study, credit will NOT be automatically assigned to a course. You MUST allocate credits to your courses YOURSELF. Credits CANNOT be cross-allocated between UGBA 105 and UGBA 106. Credits must be earned for each course separately and must be earned DURING the semester you are enrolled in them. Studies that offer monetary compensation will not be counted towards your credit count.

Paid Participants

  • In behavioral research studies, participants may complete questionnaires, interact in groups, or participate in computer-based experiments. One study session typically lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Participants are paid on average $15/hour.
  • Once you create an account on SONA, you will be notified if there are any studies that you qualify for.
  • If you received an email but the advertised study is not shown on SONA, it is already filled.

If you are unable or unwilling to participate in a study, as a courtesy to the experimenter we ask that you cancel your appointment or email the experimenter if it is too late to cancel on SONA. Your account will become limited after failing to show up for 4 scheduled studies, after which you will only be able to sign up for alternative research activities if such are offered.

Questions?

Email us: [email protected].