Lab lingo (Dictionary)
What is a "keeper"!? Read on to find out
Last updated
What is a "keeper"!? Read on to find out
Last updated
A baby ID is a numeric code that uniquely identifies a specific infant in our database of participants. You can think of it like a coded version of their full name—the same baby will always have the same Baby ID, for all studies they participate in. For example, if baby Emma has Baby ID 12345 and comes in at age 6 months for Study ABC and at age 18 months for Study DEF, she will always be referred to as 12345 in all study documentation for both studies. The Baby ID value is automatically calculated by the Infant Database when a participant is added, and the database is the only place that connects a participant's real identity and their Baby ID code. See also:
Birthlists are spreadsheets we get through the CIUSS (the centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux). These spreadsheets include information about all babies born in a specific catchment area/CLSC during a specific month. We request birthlists based on recruitment needs (specific ages) from CLSCs closest to the Loyola campus to maximize participation. Access to these birthlists is shared between the Poulin-Dubois and Byers-Heinlein labs. Click here for detailed information about ordering and maintaining birthlists.
Core lab members include all plus paid RAs/Bookers and Undergraduate Project/Honours students.
Database refers to the repository of families that have expressed interest, or have participated in our research. The database is hosted on Filemaker, and contains all the information that you would need to know about our past and potential future participants.
Helpers are volunteer lab members who assist with testing by greeting our participants, keeping the children occupied while we administer questionnaires to caregivers and makiing sure the study procedure runs smoothly.
HPP stands for "headturn preference procedure", and this technique measures how long infants listen to different streams of sound. The infant sits on their parent's lap in front of a large screen, with two smaller screens to either side. Speakers underneath the smaller side screens play auditory stimuli while the infant is looking in that direction. In this technique, the experimenter presses a key to indicate exactly when and for how long the infant looks at each screen, thus controlling when sounds are played. Software programs for creating HPP tasks include PsychoPy and Habit2. Click here for detailed information about running HPP studies in the lab.\
Keepers are participants who take part in our studies whose data we can use. Non-keepers are participants whose data we cannot use. Some reasons we can't use data include participants being the wrong age, having language experience outside the criteria for a given study, being too fussy to complete the experimental tasks, parental interference during the tasks, or experimenter error.
LENA devices are small audio recorders that are placed in a pocket on a special baby shirt or onesie that capture up to 16 hours of speech to infants in their home environment. LENA stands for Language ENvironment Analysis.
The LEQ, or Language Exposure Questionnaire, is a structured interview that testers administer to caregivers of children in our studies to get an accurate estimate of the percentage of language their child hears in each of their languages. This is administered along with nearly every study in the lab.
Roundtable lab members include Krista, the Lab Manager, and all Grad Students and Postdocs. When the lab was much younger (and smaller!), lab meetings were held at a small round table in the lab, which led to the moniker 'Roundtable'! We have since outgrown the table, but the name has stuck :)
The server refers to our secure, Concordia-hosted lab server where all lab related documentation is stored. The server is divided into folders, to keep the shared space tidy and easy-to-navigate!
Testing refers to running a research study with participants, either in the lab or online, to collect data from any of our methods (eyetracking, HPP, questionnaires, etc.).
A Study ID is an alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies each participant in a specific study, and always starts with either S or P (P for pilot participants, S for real participants) followed by 3 numeric digits. The first baby to take part in any study is given the Study ID of S001 for that study, the second participant is given S002, and so on. To differentiate between Baby IDs and Study IDs, consider this example: Participant Jose, whose Baby ID is 54321, comes in to take part in two different studies on the same day. In Study ABC, he is the first participant, and is given the Study ID S001. For Study DEF, he is the fifteenth participant, and is given the Study ID S015. So the Baby ID identifies a participant consistently across any study, but the Study ID only identifies a participant consistently within the same study (all questionnaires and tasks related to Jose's participation in Study ABC will use Study ID S001 in their documentation). See also:
Testers are graduate students, paid RAs and undergraduate project students who administer study tasks. They are responsible for running the eyetracker, , administering questionnaires to caregivers, as well as ensuring the is up to date and that the information is stored appropriately.
