Using ORSEE
To facilitate recruiting participants for laboratory experiments we are using the online recruitment system ORSEE.ORSEE is a collaborative effort of its users. Users share the following tasks:
- Responsible recruiting for own experiments.
- Professional implementation of the experiments.
- Maintenance of the subject pool.
- Maintenance of the underlying hard- and software.
- Responsible recruiting:
Having a large pool of motivated participants is an important asset for all users.
We have to make sure that all participants are treated in a respectful and professional way.
This implies a diligent organisation of the experimental procedures but also a professional
organisation of the recruitment process.
- What type of account is required? (New users will read the ORSEE documentation carefully to find out what type of account is most appropriate for their needs.)
- How many participants are required for the new experiment?
- How many participants should be invited? (Keep in mind that it is usually sufficient to invite about 5 times the number of required participants. The number of invitees should not be too large to avoid frustration of participants who are invited but who can not get a place.)
- If German is not the first language of the new user, how does the new user make sure that participants are addressed in the correct way?
- How familiar are recruiters with the ORSEE Software? (Recruiters are expected to understand the ORSEE software very well. To gain experience, new users also assist several times more experienced recruiters in several experiments to become familiar with the technicalities of recruiting. Please explain how the new recruiter acquired his or her experience.)
- How does the recruiter administer cancellations and no shows? (Each recruiter subscribes himself or herself to a mailing list which receives all participants' emails during the time of the own experiment. It is the responsibility of the recruiter to manage these messages in a timely manner.)
- Professional implementation of the experiment:
- How are the experimental procedures tested before the experiment? (Participants will find it discouraging if experiments are run in a less than professional manner. All procedures, in particular software, is stress tested with at least the load that is expected in the actual experiment. Experimenters know how to restart their software in case of a failure. They know how to continue smoothly with the experiment if something unexpected occurs.)
- How is ensured that experimenters are familiar with the procedures of the experiment? (Usually new experimenters assist more experienced experimenters in several sessions to get used to the technicalities of the experimental environment. Please explain how the experimenter acquired his or her experience.)
- How is ensured that the experimental procedures conform with the participant agreement? (When signing up for an experiment for the first time, participants sign an agreement which specifies the terms and conditions of our experiments.)
- Maintenance of the subject pool:
To keep the subject pool up to date, all users of the pool contribute to its maintenance.
As a rule of thumb, an experiment of 100 participants requires to advertise ORSEE actively
among at least 200 candidate participants.
- How did the new user contribute to the subject pool in the past?
- How does the new user plan to contribute to the subject pool in the future?
- Maintenance of the underlying hard- and software:
Maintaining the underlying hard- and software requires a lot of effort.
- How did the new user contribute to the technical infrastructure in the past?
- How does the new user plan to contribute to the technical infrastructure in the future?