About the Labs

Contact

Lab Hours

  • The Behavioral Labs are used by researchers who have reserved them in advance. The labs can be reserved for any available time slot during public building hours. Access to the Carlson School building is restricted after 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends. Only those with UCard access may enter the building during these times.  Receptionist coverage for the 3rd and 4th floor security doors is 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM.  Outside these hours you will need to monitor hall doors to assure access for all subjects.  
  • The Lab Manager's hours are 7:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Monday–Friday.  
     

How to reserve the labs:

  • Please read the Behavioral Labs Guidelines and Procedures before making a reservation.
  • If your research includes subject pool use, please email your IRB approval letter, submission and any updates to the Behavioral Labs Manager prior to completing the reservation form. More information on the IRB can also be found on our website under the Researchers/IRB Information tabs.
  • To schedule a lab space, check the Labs Calendar for available time slots and complete the Reservation Request Form.
  • Please allow for set up and close out times in your reservation requests.
  • Once your reservation has been confirmed, please bring your UCard to the Lab Manager in Room 3-358 to request security clearance before you can access the lab or bring it to lab training.

Lab Information

  • This lab has five private rooms, four with capacities for 1 participant, one conference room with capacity for 6, and a central computer station accommodating 4 individuals. This secure facility provides eight computers equipped with research software. Reserving this facility also gives you access to a small waiting room across the hall (room 3-113) with a capacity for 12 participants.
  • Behavioral Lab I Layout
  • 3-113 Waiting Room Layout
RoomEquipmentCapacity
3-114AOne computer and chair, privacy door1
3-114BOne conference table, 6 chairs, privacy door6
3-114COne computer and chair, privacy door1
3-114DOne computer and chair, privacy door1
3-114EOne computer and chair, privacy door1
3-114 Central Computer Station4 private workstations4
3-113 Waiting Room12 chairs for participants and one small table12
  • This lab has two separate rooms for research, both equipped with video cameras and monitoring capability. The Group Research room seats 8-10 participants. The Individual Research room seats 6 participants at private carrels with desktops. It has a separate observation room with a private entrance that offers multiple observation options.
  • Behavioral Lab II Layout
RoomEquipmentCapacity
Individual Research RoomSeats 6 participants at private carrels6
Group Research RoomOne conference table, 8–10 chairs, private door8-10
  • This lab has seven desktops with internet access and limited research software. Space for up to seven subjects in private carrels. The walls separating each carrel are moveable should you need to reconfigure the room. This secure facility is easy to access in Carlson's lower level.
  • Behavioral Lab III Layout
RoomEquipmentCapacity
Individual Research RoomSeats 7 participants in private carrels7
  • This lab has six desktop computers equipped with internet access and limited research software; one wireless laptop for the researcher. Space for up to 6 subjects, with dividers for privacy. This secure facility offers easy access on the ground level of the Carlson School. 
  • Behavioral Lab IV Layout
RoomEquipmentCapacity
Individual Research RoomSeats 6 participants with dividers for privacy6
  • This lab has six laptop computers equipped with internet access and limited research and security software all locked in a mobile storage cabinet.  There are also cardboard dividers available to separate participants if necessary.
  • The Mobile Lab may be reserved and checked out through the reservation request form.
  • Carlson Room reservations should be arranged separately through the appropriate departmental staff.
  • Mobile Lab Layout

CLA Research Support Services provides consultative services to researchers in the College of Liberal Arts and the Carlson School of Management. With a high level of expertise in research methodology, our staff can assist with nearly every step of the research process. We provide support from initial grant proposals and human subject protocols through instrument design, experiment programming, participant recruitment strategies, technologically-assisted data collection and management, analysis, and consultation on dissemination and long-term preservation.  We are able to assist researchers at any time in the research project process. Researchers anticipating substantial need for research support should contact us early to discuss any costs that should be integrated into grant proposals. 

Suite #25 Blegen Hall
269 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-625-2064
Email: [email protected]

***Online Service Request Form***

SERVICES

Research Planning

  • Research Design and methods consulting
  • Technical details for IRB or Grant applications
  • Data Management Plan Consultation
  • Survey sampling and participant pools
  • Data and file storage
  • Research computing


Data Collection

  • Consultation on survey and experimental design
  • Survey development
  • Experimental task programming
  • OVPR-funded support for precision timing research
  • Consultation on secure storage of research data
  • Social and Behavioral Science Laboratory
  • Several small mixed-use research spaces


Data Management

  • Consult on Data Management Plans
  • Consult on IRB proposals that allow for data sharing and archival
  • Consult on best practices in research workflow
  • Data wrangling, preprocessing, reshaping
  • Codebooks, data dictionaries


Analysis

  • Consult on experimental design, basic and advanced data analysis
  • Preprocess data for analysis
  • Research computing


Sharing

  • Shared data storage options
  • Consultation on meeting data sharing requirements
  • Facilitate deposit of data in the Data Repository for the University of Minnesota (DRUM) or in other archives


Preserving

  • Consultation on data preservation and archival in partnership with the University Libraries
     

Research Computing Resources (z.umn.edu/claresearchcomputing)

  • Windows Environment - Windows Terminal Services (aka Windows Remote Desktop) is used to allow remote access to many specialized (and some common) applications including: Anaconda, ArcGIS, Atlas.ti, IBM SPSS Statistics, MATLAB, NoMachine NX Client, NVivo Plus, R, SAS, Stata SE, UCINET, and Wolfram Mathematica.  In addition it has standard web browsers and Microsoft Office and can be used for remote access to files stored on files.umn.edu or other file servers.
  • Linux Environment - LATIS's Linux Environment allows access to statistical and fMRI analysis applications as well as providing the powerful and flexible capabilities of Linux-based servers.  Some of the more commonly used applications include Mathematica, R, RStudio, Anaconda, Matlab, Stata SE, SAS, AFNI, and FreeSurfer.  For a list of available servers and software or to request an account please see the links in the sidebar.
  • Storage Space - We utilize the University's Enterprise Network Attached Storage (eNAS) service to provide a secure place to store your research files.
     

Social and Behavioral Sciences Laboratory in Anderson Hall
Carlson School Researchers may also use the CLA behavioral lab

  • 36-station controlled environment computer lab
  • Custom-designed privacy carrels
  • Support for precision timing/display tasks and real-time group interactions
  • Support for software including Inquisit, z-Tree, MatLab, PsychoPy, E-Prime
  • Separate waiting and instruction rooms

Technical Information

Software

  • Windows 7 environment
  • Office 2010
  • Visio 2010
  • Project 2010
  • Firefox/Internet Explorer
  • Quicktime
  • Silverlight
  • Qualtrics service available outside of labs
  • Media Lab v2012 (Lab I)
  • Direct RT v2012 (Lab I)
  • SPSS 19 and Amos (Lab I)
  • E-Prime 2.0 (Lab I)
  • Quickcam webcam (Lab II)

Hardware

  • 8 Dell Optiplex 780 Desktop PCs in Lab I
  • 6 Dell Optiplex 780 Desktop PCs in Lab II
  • 7 Dell Optiplex 745 Desktop PCs in Lab III
  • 6 Dell Optiplex 7010 Desktop PCs in Lab IV
  • 1 Dell Latitude E6500 Laptop in Lab IV
  • 6 Dell Latitude E6540 Laptops in the Mobile Lab
  • Headphones available in all labs
  • Printers available in all labs
  • Locked supply storage available in all labs

Data Security

Lab computers are networked behind a secured firewall. For computer security and data privacy, Deep Freeze software is installed on every lab computer. Because this software deletes all the documents and data with every reboot, researchers must know the procedures to backup their data after they have completed their experiment, before logging off the computers and leaving the lab.

Training on the required steps to prevent the loss of valuable research data is required before researchers access the computers. Behavioral Lab staff is available daily for this training. Please contact the Lab Manager at [email protected] to schedule your training session.

Storage

Limited storage is available in the labs. Locked storage may be requested on the reservation form.