For undergraduate students and research staff

Expectations for All Undergraduate and Research Staff

Check emails, voicemails

Respond to emails and voicemails
If it’s not possible for you to respond (e.g., a difficult parent question), find someone who can
Leave emails in the inbox if you are not able to respond or address them before the end of your shift
As always- record interactions in DRDB. If the information will be relevant to future interactions.
Only delete voicemails that have been addressed.

Check today’s studies in the lab calendar

If there are simultaneous or back-to-back studies- communicate with the other lab members about who will take care of what tasks. You are responsible for making sure all families visiting during your shifts are accounted for and no one waits for us in the parking lot.

Assist with Appointments

Check to see if a child will soon be eligible for another study - Try to schedule while the family is in the lab if possible
Look up parent and child names.
Go downstairs with the parking pass to meet the family 10 minutes prior to their scheduled appointment.
Bring the family up to the lab. Play with the child(ren) if you are not running the study.
When the study begins, stay and play with the siblings or talk with the caregiver- the work can wait (unless the parent really doesn’t want to talk to you)
Walk the family down to the parking after their study

Post-appointment tasks

Clean up the playroom after the family has left. Tidy up the toys! - SANITIZE all toys.
Update the check box in Study History that the child has completed study
Send a thank you email using DRDB

Schedule families for studies

Check where your scheduling team has left off in their scheduling.
Schedule for your team’s studies using the scheduling scripts, DRDB, calling and checking the calendar

Prepare for the next day

Make sure that all appointments for the next day are resolved (i.e., no TENTATIVES on schedule, RESCHEDULING are addressed,)
To check this, compare the day of studies in the google calendar with the each study’s corresponding database record to make sure it is marked that the Confirmations and Thank Yous have been sent to all necessary families

You will be asked to commit to a schedule of 5-10 hours of lab work a week. This needs to be the schedule you stick to through the entire semester- this is a research opportunity but it is also your job! If you cannot attend a shift, always check with Dr. Xiao first.
You will get paid through the pay system. You must log your hours regularily.

Best practices as an RA

This is both a research opportunity and a job- please remember to treat it as both with the respect they require.

Be working on a lab task at all times during your scheduled lab hours. (Breaks are ok, sometimes you are doing tedious tasks and need a mental break, but within reason, please!)
Be on time for your shifts. - There are many moving parts in the lab and your timeliness is usually central to all parts (getting families, watching siblings, answering the phone, etc.)
Participate actively and thoughtfully in the research projects. Be careful, diligent, and thorough with all of your work.
Ask questions!
Have a notebook (or note app on phone) with you at all times to take notes.
Respond to your personal email promptly. You should check your email at least once a day!

Participate in recruitment
Present an article in Journal Club (Refer to Journal Club under Lab Activities)
Write a final reflection paper at the end of the course
- Reflect what you learned about theories and research methods from the course
- Make one suggestion to improve the PI’s supervision in research
- The points reflect the quality of writing