POLS-Lab: A Resource for Survey Experiments
POLS-LAB: A Resource for Survey Experiments in Social Sciences
The Public Opinion, Learning, and Sentiment Lab (POLS-Lab) offers resources to scholars at UNC Charlotte interested in running experiments or focus groups in the area of communications, public policy, public opinion, political or economic behavior, social psychology, and public administration. The lab welcomes participation from faculty, graduate, and undergraduate researchers in a variety of fields.
If you are a UNC Charlotte researcher who is looking for Lab instructions and information, please contact Dr. Jason Giersch at jgiersch@uncc.edu
Facilities and Equipment
POLS-LAB is more than a place – it is a collection resources for running experimental studies either in our on-campus lab or online. Lab-based studies are conducted in Fretwell 421, a computer lab with 22 stations with internet access, screen capture software, and headphones. Ten of the 22 stations can be equipped with video cameras for recording subjects during experiments. POLS-LAB also has a system available for remote viewing and recording of focus groups and group-based experiments. Please contact pols-experiments@uncc.edu for room availability.
POLS-LAB also maintains a biometric station equipped with galvanic skin response sensors and software that automatically codes facial actions to measure emotion through facial movement. This station can be used for live data collection or for post-processing existing video.Most subjects for our studies are drawn from our student subject pool which we manage through SONA Systems. We also draw upon specialized, non-student subject pools as needed for specific studies. If you are interested in learning more about POLS-LAB or running an experiment through POLS-LAB, please contact Dr. Jason Giersch, jgiersch@uncc.edu
Most subjects for our studies are drawn from our student subject pool which we manage through SONA Systems. We also draw upon specialized, non-student subject pools as needed for specific studies. If you are interested in learning more about POLS-LAB or running an experiment through POLS-LAB, please contact Dr. Jason Giersch, jgiersch@uncc.edu
Become a Subject, Earn Gift Cards or Extra Credit!
Quality subjects are essential to the success of experiments in POLS-LAB. Participation usually takes about an hour of your time and your privacy is always protected. We usually recruit subjects in the middle of the semester and usually through course instructors. Students can often earn extra credit in classes or chances to win gift cards for their participation. Watch for announcements in your classes.
Instructors: Please consider giving students extra credit for participating in POLS-LAB experiments.
We run several short studies each semester that use students from UNCC as subjects. The studies are usually run during the last half of the semester and students may participate in more than one study. If you make this option available to your class, we will set up your class in our subject pool system to track your students’ participation and send you a report at the end of the semester listing the study credits your students have completed. Students who do not wish to participate in experiments are given an option of writing a short report on journal article that uses an experiment for credit. Please contact us at pols-experiments@uncc.edu if you are interested in setting up an extra credit option for your class.