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What is the purpose of an experiment?
All of our experiments are conducted to collect data for scientific purposes. Our aim is to understand the factors that influence decisions in various situations. Later on, the results of an experiment are provided in articles to be published in scientific journals.
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What are the experiments about? Is there deception involved?
The experiments at BingSSEL study behavior of individuals and groups in a wide range of social and business situations. At the beginning of each session, participants will receive detailed and accurate instructions describing how payments will depend on the decisions made. The rules and the payments may vary across different experiments and may differ between participants.
The use of deception by researchers at BingSSEL is prohibited.
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Do I get paid for participating in experiments? How much?
Your payment in each experiment depends on your decisions and the decisions of the other participants. An earnings rate between $12 and $30 for 90 minutes of participation is common, although exact pay may vary among different participants and experiments.
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I see that there are sessions with free slots in the calendar, so why can't I sign
up for these sessions?
For most experiments, we only invite a random subset of our database to ensure that everyone gets a chance to participate in our experiments. As a result, it is possible that you see sessions with free slots in the calendar but you are not able to enroll. However, if not enough participants are signing up for these sessions, we may send out invitations to more participants.
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Do I have to show up when I am invited to an experiment?
No. When you receive an email invitation for an experiment, you will have to follow the provided link, choose a session that fits your schedule and confirm your participation in order to be signed up for the experiment. After signing up, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with your session details.
Once you are signed up for a session, we expect that you show up. Please arrive at the experiment at least 10 minutes prior to the experiment start time. For details about "Canceling a session sign-up" please read the corresponding FAQ.
- I signed up for an experiment, but cannot sign up for all the other experiments now,
since they just disappeared!
Almost all experiments consist of several sessions. You can only sign up for one session of a particular experiment. If you are already signed up to a session of a specific experiment, the other sessions will disappear from the list. - How can I cancel my registration for an experiment?
You cannot cancel your signup to a session yourself. Thus, please ensure that you are available for an experiment session BEFORE you sign up for it. However, if you become sick or are not able to attend the session due to some unforeseen circumstances, please send a reply to your invitation/confirmation e-mail AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and provide reasons. We will then take you off the list. Participants who do not show up for the experiment on time or who cancel their registration within 1 hour prior to the start of the experiment may lose their eligibility to sign-up for future sessions. - Who can apply for a subject account?
While the vast majority of our experiments recruit Binghamton University undergraduates only, anyone who is interested in participating in experiments can apply for a subject account in our database. - Can I put in fake information when creating a subject account?
No, never do that. Your information is a crucial element of the experimental research. You will not be allowed to participate in an experiment if the information you provide in your profile is found to be incorrect. In case you do not want to provide certain information about yourself, please leave the field blank. Note, however, that providing information will increase the probablility to be invited in experiments which target specific characteristics.
