lab.js: A free, open, online study builder

Henninger, Felix; Shevchenko, Yury; Mertens, Ulf K.; Kieslich, Pascal J.; Hilbig, Benjamin E.

doi:10.31234/osf.io/fqr49

Cited by 96 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Web applications offer a means to deploy studies both inside and outside of the lab. Frameworks are being developed that make it increasingly easier for researchers to deploy mental chronometry paradigms as web applications (Anwyl-Irvine et al, 2019;De Leeuw, 2015;Henninger, Shevchenko, Mertens, Kieslich, & Hilbig, 2019;Murre, 2016). Studies of timing accuracy suggest limits to what may be achieved, but also introduce technical innovations for achieving higher accuracy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental chronometry in the pocket? Timing accuracy of web applications on touchscreen and keyboard devices

et al. 2019

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Web applications can implement procedures for studying the speed of mental processes (mental chronometry) and can be administered via web browsers on most commodity desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. This approach to conducting mental chronometry offers various opportunities, such as increased scale, ease of data collection, and access to specific samples. However, validity and reliability may be threatened by less accurate timing than specialized software and hardware can offer. We examined how accurately web applications time stimuli and register response times (RTs) on commodity touchscreen and keyboard devices running a range of popular web browsers. Additionally, we explored the accuracy of a range of technical innovations for timing stimuli, presenting stimuli, and estimating stimulus duration. The results offer some guidelines as to what methods may be most accurate and what mental chronometry paradigms may suitably be administered via web applications. In controlled circumstances, as can be realized in a lab setting, very accurate stimulus timing and moderately accurate RT measurements could be achieved on both touchscreen and keyboard devices, though RTs were consistently overestimated. In uncontrolled circumstances, such as researchers may encounter online, stimulus presentation may be less accurate, especially when brief durations are requested (of up to 100 ms). Differences in RT overestimation between devices might not substantially affect the reliability with which group differences can be found, but they may affect reliability for individual differences. In the latter case, measurement via absolute RTs can be more affected than measurement via relative RTs (i.e., differences in a participant's RTs between conditions).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental chronometry in the pocket? Timing accuracy of web applications on touchscreen and keyboard devices

et al. 2019

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“…Additionally, PsychoPy auto-translates base-Python to JS (but not functions from specific libraries). There are plenty other experiment builders available: Gorilla [24], Inquisit Web [25], LabVanced [26] and Testable [27], from the integrated-service providers (see Table 1: A) and lab.js [28,29], jsPsych [30, 31], PsyToolkit [32][33][34], tatool web [35] from the function-specific solutions (see Table 1: B). Their advantages and shortcomings should be evaluated on a lab's basis depending on individual needs.…”

Section: Experiments Buildersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building, Hosting and Recruiting: A Brief Introduction to Running Behavioral Experiments Online

2020

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Researchers have ample reasons to take their experimental studies out of the lab and into the online wilderness. For some, it is out of necessity, due to an unforeseen laboratory closure or difficulties in recruiting on-site participants. Others want to benefit from the large and diverse online population. However, the transition from in-lab to online data acquisition is not trivial and might seem overwhelming at first. To facilitate this transition, we present an overview of actively maintained solutions for the critical components of successful online data acquisition: creating, hosting and recruiting. Our aim is to provide a brief introductory resource and discuss important considerations for researchers who are taking their first steps towards online experimentation.

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“…Our lab has had an overwhelmingly positive experience with running online studies (Grootswagers et al, in press, 2017(Grootswagers et al, in press, , 2018. While early days involved extensive JavaScript programming for relatively simple online studies, recent advancements have made it much easier to get complex studies up and running (Anwyl-Irvine, Massonnié, et al, 2020;Barnhoorn et al, 2014;De Leeuw, 2015;Henninger et al, 2019;Peirce et al, 2019). These generally come with associated tutorials and hands-on guides, but these are often specific to a single platform or method.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A primer on running human behavioural experiments online

Grootswagers

2020

Behav Res

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Moving from the lab to an online environment opens up enormous potential to collect behavioural data from thousands of participants with the click of a button. However, getting the first online experiment running requires familiarisation with a number of new tools and terminologies. There exist a number of tutorials and hands-on guides that can facilitate this process, but these are often tailored to one specific online platform. The aim of this paper is to give a broad introduction to the world of online testing. This will provide a high-level understanding of the infrastructure before diving into specific details with more in-depth tutorials. Becoming familiar with these tools allows moving from hypothesis to experimental data within hours.

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lab.js: A free, open, online study builder

Cited by 96 publications

References 26 publications

Mental chronometry in the pocket? Timing accuracy of web applications on touchscreen and keyboard devices

Mental chronometry in the pocket? Timing accuracy of web applications on touchscreen and keyboard devices

Building, Hosting and Recruiting: A Brief Introduction to Running Behavioral Experiments Online

A primer on running human behavioural experiments online

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