Multi-Part Lab Studies
You may create a multi-part lab study in the system, up to 4 parts. Often these are studies involving memory research, where the participant must return a specified number of days after the previous session. When creating a study, you may specify the day range for the each part of the study (e.g. 7 to 10 days after the previous part). Participants are required to sign up for all parts at the same time, to reduce the chance of forgetting to sign up for all parts. Each part of a multi-part study may have a different credit or payment value, and duration, but each part must be the same compensation type. All parts must be for credit or all parts must be for compensation. The system also supports multi-part online studies (see Multi-Part Online Studies). If you have a study where one part is in-person and the other part is online, you will need to set up two separate studies and link them using pre-requisites.
With multi-part lab studies, you may specify that each part of the study must be scheduled to take place at exactly the same time as the previous part, or at any time on the dates that are within the specified number of days after the previous part. You may also specify that the next part take place on the same day as the previous part, by setting the day separation to 0 days. In that case, the system will ensure the next part takes place on the same day, but after the previous part.
You should ensure that there are enough available timeslots for all parts of the study or participants will be prevented from signing up for the study. Participants may cancel any part of their sign-up if necessary. If they cancel the one part, all subsequent parts are automatically cancelled as well. If they cancel any part other than the first part, you will need to manually sign them up (if you are allowed to do so) to participate in the cancelled parts of the study at a later date. You may also ask the administrator to handle this.
If you grant a no-show for the one part of a multi-part study, the subsequent parts of that participant’s sign-up will not be cancelled automatically. However, you will be reminded of the situation in case you would like to cancel the subsequent parts. The cancellation is not automatic as there are some situations where automatic cancellation is not desirable.
Multi-Part Lab Study Configuration Scenarios
Listed below are some common scenarios and how to configure them in the system. The example used below is for a two-part study for simplicity, but would apply just as well to studies with more parts.
| Scenario | Scheduling Range Configuration (Part 2) |
|---|---|
| Second part to take place a week later, at any time during that day. |
Scheduling Range: 7 and 7 Scheduling Leniency: No |
| Second part to take place three days later, at exactly same the same time as part 1. |
Scheduling Range: 3 and 3 Scheduling Leniency: Yes |
| Second part to take place one to two weeks later, at any time during the day. |
Scheduling Range: 7 and 14 Scheduling Leniency: No |
| Second part to take place later on the same day as the first part.. |
Scheduling Range: 0 and 0 Scheduling Leniency: No |
The system will enforce the configuration for the each part in terms of ensuring participants only sign up for timeslots that meet the multi-part study restrictions. As the researcher, you also have additional control in deciding which timeslots to create for each part of the study. You want to ensure that there are sufficient timeslots for each part. For example, if you have a two-part study set up so the second part must occur exactly one day after the first part, and you have set up the Part 1 timeslots on Monday, then ensure you have some Part 2 timeslots set up on Tuesday. Participants will have trouble signing up for the Monday timeslots for the first part because there is no corresponding timeslot for the second part to sign up for.