Today I worked on data entry for Psych Distancing and PDEF. I finished entering the 26 participants for Psych Distancing, then had about half an hour left and entered four subjects for PDEF.
February 2012 Archives
Today, I finished making home packages for Danika to send out a few weeks before the families are due. I also finished calculating the standards for the Taste Perception task of the Infant Feeding Study. This will eliminate inaccuracies in the equipment and ensure that all of the data collected from this task is consistent. I then set up for a 3-month visit and entered some data. It was a productive two hours!! I am curious to see how the analysis of the data will play out once all of the data has been collected, as this is one of the only aspects of the Infant Feeding Study that I have not been exposed to yet.
Today I continued calling for the BMI study and was able to reach a good amount of parents but none of them qualified. I had about 10 parents that were going to call us back with measurements so I will be following up with them in the next week. I also worked on finishing coding the pilot EFM validation study that Sam is running.
Today I continued calling for the BMI study. The internet in 88D was being really sketchy and I kept having to put parents on hold in order to calculate their BMI. This made it really hard to move quickly through the list and I wasn't able to schedule anyone.
Today I worked with Rachel learning how to conduct a few of the tasks in the Psych Distancing and PDEF studies. Going over the tasks gave me a better understanding of what I am entering when I do data entry; and data entry provided background knowledge about scoring and when a child has failed a level of a task. Rachel and I went over how to run the DCCS, the EF scale, the PPVT, the theory of mind task with the puppets, the Flanker task, and the forwards and backwards digit span. It was great to be able to get involved in another aspect of the lab!
I came in this morning and checked Cathy and Sam's office to let them know I was in. Neither one was there so I went to room 88D. Wendy was waiting for me to train me on calling parents. She was very detailed in showing me everything I needed to know to schedule the parents. I thought the way she went about it was great. She also showed me the different methods she uses on the children so I had a better understanding of what I was scheduling the child to come in for. When I come in tomorrow to call the parents, I feel I am very prepared to take on the task!
Today I called for both EFM Scaling and EFM Validation and made packets for the families that I scheduled. It was an average day like many others, and I scheduled a decent amount of families.
Today I called for both EFM Scaling and EFM Validation and made packets for the families that I scheduled. It was an average day like many others, and I scheduled a decent amount of families.
Today, I realized how behind we are on entering data for the Infant Feeding Study, so I decided to work on that. It is interesting to have seen many facets of the study now, including recruiting, data entry, and running sessions. I made a chart of sorts with each questionnaire, where the data for each questionnaire is located in our databases, and our progress on entering the hard copies of each questionnaire into the digital database. Since we have a lot of questionnaires, this was very helpful in getting organized and tracking our progress. Since there is another student entering data for the Infant Feeding Study, this will help us be more efficient in sharing the workload.
Today I called for a little over an hour for the EFM Scaling study. I called a list of 2.5 year-olds and was only able to recruit one during the time I called. After calling, I entered EFM validation data of two participants into a new database system designed for anyone to be able to enter the data if it's in front of them. I think this is a really great idea to use in universities across the country (or other research labs) because it can produce very large results, therefore increasing the reliability of the studies conducted in the Carlson Lab.
Today I just worked on some basic housekeeping for the SRF study. I went through the files to make sure that they were all recorded on the cheklist. I also went through the appointment log to make sure that all of the appointments were updated as to who showed up and who had to cancel their sessions. So far I've only had one cancellation, which I think is pretty good, I'm sure that lack of snow up until now has made it easier for participants to get to lab.
I was hoping to do some calling today to start scheduling for after spring break. Unfortunately, I lost my voice, so calling really wasn't a possibility. Hopefully next week I'll have my voice back and I'll be able to do some scheduling. I don't have any sessions next week, so I'll have six hours to try to call people. It looks like we're making our way through the list very quickly, there is only a small handful of families left that we haven't called at least once. There have also been a lot of disconnected numbers, so it looks like the calling list will be getting quite a bit shorter. That means it will probably start getting more difficult to schedule. It will probably be good that I have all next week free to call people! I also noticed that it looks like another study has started using room 85 for their sessions, so that might make scheduling a little trickier too. Hopefully between the three of us undergrads, however, we'll always be able to find one of us who is available when the participant is and when the room is open.
Today I started with IPP but was having computer problems so Josh told me to just shut down the computer. I worked a bit on highlighting old call logs.
Then I sat down with Wendy and went over details on the research leading up to the DCF and different ways to organize my final paper, which was super helpful. My ideas are a lot more organized and clean.
Today I continued calling for the BMI study. I called about 75 different families and was not able to find any qualifying participants. During calling I came across two different new situations with upset parents. The first was with a mother whose son had died a couple years ago and needed to be removed from the participant list. I was very kind and professional and made sure she was not upset that we had contacted her. The second family I talked to was upset that she had not received follow-up information regarding the studies that she had participated in the past. She did not want to be removed from the data base but told me that she was probably not going to be interested in participant. I told her I would do my best to look into the previous studies she had and gave Josh her phone number to contact her later that day. This kind of taught me that you have to be prepared for all different situations when recruiting participants. I also coded another pilot study for the EFM validation study that Sam is running with Matt. We were unable to finish a portion of the coding because the file became "corrupt" on the server.
Today was another busy day in the Infant Feeding Study. I am starting to realize how challenging it can be to juggle schedules between moms, RAs and other study staff! I spent most of my time today sending emails to families and replying to responses I received from emails I sent out last week. I am trying to get everyone scheduled for their three month sessions, but with the mom's going back to work at three months, it is more difficult to schedule these than it is to schedule the two week sessions. I have gotten two scheduled out of the four that I need for the following two weeks, so I am hoping to get the other two scheduled on Wednesday when I am in. We are wrapping up recruiting for this study this week, so I am looking forward to sitting in on some sessions as well as running some sessions with mothers. I hope we are able to get everyone we need to in!
Today I made some copies for Cathy and Sam, made and sent some thank-you notes for the BMI study and Psych Distancing, and cut DCCS cards.
Today, I worked on putting together envelopes for families who are nearing their due dates for the Infant Feeding Study. I had never done this before, so it took a little while, but once I had a system going, I was pretty efficient. I talked to the foreign exchange student from the Netherlands for a little while about child psychology and medical school, which was really interesting. Then, I helped Danika schedule some visits for the Infant Feeding Study. It is a little different working more independently now, but I enjoy the problem-solving skills that it builds. We are on our last week of recruiting, so hopefully we will be able to fill the last few spots in the study this week!!
I had two participants come into lab on Friday, a 6 year old and an 8 year old. The sessions went well. The touch-screen computer still wasn't working, so I wasn't able to do all of the computer tasks, but I was still able to do the first and fourth tasks. The parents and the kids all seemed to enjoy the experience. I did notice that the treasure chest of toys is getting a little low, so it's been taking the kids awhile to choose a prize. Other than that everything has been going smoothly and I've really enjoyed running sessions. Next week I have a couple more participants. I might also try to do a little scheduling for after spring break sometime this week. The week right before break is very busy, so I might just focus on scheduling participants for after that week instead of trying to have anyone come into the lab then. I can't believe we're almost halfway through the semester, it has been flying by!
I had another eight year old SRF participant in lab this week. The session went really well, the girl seemed a little tired, so she wasn't really all that excited about the tasks, but in the end it still seemed like she had a good time. Her mother was definitely excited about the process. She was very interested in the study and other studies that were going on at the institute. The only problem I ran into was with the computer. The monitor had been switched so I wasn't able to perform two of the touch screen activities. That issue has been resolved now it sounds like, so hopefully my next session will be able to run smoothly and I'll be able to figure out the new situation with the computers. The sessions have been going well so far. It sounds like the other girls are going to start gearing up to do a little more testing, so scheduling might get a little harder, but it'll be great to get more kids being tested!
Today I finished up calling for Psych Distancing. It seems like there usually aren't many successful appointment schedules when calling through the list a second time, but today I actually scheduled quite a few sessions. After that, I had a little bit of extra time to try to straighten 88D and the family waiting room for the visitors coming tomorrow, but I didn't have quite enough time to finish that.
Today I continued working on data entry for the psych distancing study. I noticed that all of the files today used the longer Theory of Mind scoresheet instead of the Unexpected Location task. Did the task change after the study had began, or do they change depending on the child's age?
Today I made a follow-up call from yesterday - the dad wanted to discuss with mom, but he forgot. He took Wendy's contact info and will hopefully be contacting her. Then I was going to start showing Jen the DCF info, but we didn't have time before she had to leave, so I worked on IPP while I waited. Lab meeting was interesting - I'm applying to grad schools and going to interview days right now, so it's cool to hear about what goes on behind the scenes! Then I watched one of the latest DCF kids - he was a tough one, so Wendy wanted me to see how to handle kiddos like that! For the last bit I worked on IPP - Josh wants to get all of the past demographics entered before he presents the info in a couple weeks, so I plugged away at that.
Today I worked on data entry for the Psych Distancing study. I think the most enjoyable part of doing data entry is entering the Parent Fantasy Interview. Sometimes children have really interesting imaginary friends that their parents write about! I never had an imaginary friend when I was younger, but I had a friend with a 5-year-old sister who had quite a few!
Today I got caught up on all of my emails and voice messages. First, I checked the phone for voicemails, and I had one from a mom who unfortunately wanted to be removed from the infant participant pool. I am anxiously awaiting a return phone call from a mom who had her baby at the beginning of the month, hoping we can still get them in to participate in the study. There were no new emails to respond to today. I went through the recruited families list, and I found that there were four families who needed to be scheduled soon for their 3 month visits. So, I went through the calendar to find dates and times that would work, then I emailed all of those families. Hopefully when I am in on Monday, we will be able to get them scheduled. I am still having difficulty accessing the CTSI scheduling site, but I hope to be able to schedule the rooms and parking permits soon too. I also did calls for moms who are at or past their 37 week of pregnancy mark. I was able to get a hold of one mom who already had her baby, and we got her scheduled for next week. I wonder how many more moms we'll get before we stop recruiting??
I came in this afternoon and checked with Cathy to find out if she wanted me to continue calling for Scaling. Then I talked to Sam and started calling the Psych Distancing call log. I ended up scheduling 3 parents and their children. Then I met with Sam and she showed me how to put together the mailing packet. After that I met with Sara F. in regards to the study Wendy is doing. I was unable to spend much time discussing the information with her.
I came in this afternoon and checked with Cathy to find out if she wanted me to continue calling for Scaling. Then I talked to Sam and started calling the Psych Distancing call log. I ended up scheduling 3 parents and their children. Then I met with Sam and she showed me how to put together the mailing packet. After that I met with Sara F. in regards to the study Wendy is doing. I was unable to spend much time discussing the information with her.
I came in this afternoon and checked with Cathy to find out if she wanted me to continue calling. Then I talked to Sam and started calling the Psych Distancing call log. I ended up scheduling 3 parents and their children. Then I met with Sam and she showed me how to put together the mailing packet. After that I met with Sara F. in regards to the study Wendy is doing. I was unable to spend much time discussing the information with her.
I came in this afternoon and checked with Cathy to find out if she wanted me to continue calling. Then I talked to Sam and started calling the Psych Distancing call log. I ended up scheduling 3 parents and their children. Then I met with Sam and
I came in this afternoon and checked with Cathy to find out if she wanted me to continue calling. Then I talked to Sam and started calling the Psych Distancing call log.
I did not get a chance to write my entry for yesterday, but yesterday I called families to recruit 6.5-year-old girls for the PDEF study. The first family I called had twin girls, which was a good sign for the day! I was able to schedule 6 girls for this week and the following week, which filled the counterbalance sheet for that age group. After I had recruited these families, I emailed five Welcome Packets, and I mailed one. I hadn't emailed a packet before, so Rachel showed me how. It was great to get a chance to learn how to do something new!
Today, I finished up calling for the EFM Scaling study. I was only able to schedule a few, because of age restrictions. Many of the children on the list were already too old to participate in this study. The strict age guidelines reminded me how precise everything has to be in science, and the science of child development is no different.
Today, I finished up calling for the EFM Scaling study. I was only able to schedule a few, because of age restrictions. Many of the children on the list were already too old to participate in this study. The strict age guidelines reminded me how precise everything has to be in science, and the science of child development is no different.
Today, I finished up calling for the EFM Scaling study. I was only able to schedule a few, because of age restrictions. Many of the children on the list were already too old to participate in this study. The strict age guidelines reminded me how precise everything has to be in science, and the science of child development is no different.
Today I worked on a few tasks. First, I made some copies of questionnaires and sheets used for making packets to send to families. I also updated a participant list on the server, which took a little while because there were two lists to add to the list. I put together two packets to be sent to families for EFM scaling studies and made a few thank-yous for psych distancing.
Today I worked on a few tasks. First, I made some copies of questionnaires and sheets used for making packets to send to families. I also updated a participant list on the server, which took a little while because there were two lists to add to the list. I put together two packets to be sent to families for EFM scaling studies and made a few thank-yous for psych distancing.
Today I worked on a few tasks. First, I made some copies of questionnaires and sheets used for making packets to send to families. I also updated a participant list on the server, which took a little while because there were two lists to add to the list. I put together two packets to be sent to families for EFM scaling studies
Today I worked on a few tasks. First, I made some copies of questionnaires and sheets used for making packets to send to families. I also updated a participant list on the server, which took a little while because there were two lists to
Today, I recruited for the Infant Feeding Study. It is getting harder and harder to find people who are pregnant and due before March 31st. However, I did leave a lot of messages, which is how we recruit a lot of families. Hopefully, many will call back!! The tedium of calling families without any enrollment began to set in after an hour and a half or so, but it is always intersting to talk to families about their children, even if they are not eligible for the Infant Feeding Study. We are very close to the number of families that we need for the study, so we are all working hard on recruiting until we reach our goal!
Today I started with calling for the DCF. I called a few families and reached 3 - 2 were not interested and one wants me to call him back tomorrow. Calling seems to either be really slow or LOTS of families want to book. Today was a slow day...
Then Wendy and I went over the DCCS again. Sometimes I get confused on the reversed advanced border - I have no idea how some 4.5 year olds pass it!!
Today I continued calling for the BMI studies and called about 30 families. I was unable to schedule anyone and only talked to one parent in person. I left a lot of voice mails so hopefully we will have a bunch of call backs from those. I noticed that compared with yesterday, I talked to about twice as many parents as I did today. I think that is mainly due to the holiday and shows that our recruting success rate may depend on the time of day that we make the calls. I was also thinking that since we might be more successful leaving a message on the second round through the list because most parents I talk to on call backs seem irritated that we are contacting them again after leaving a message and not getting a response.
Today I came in and Sam asked me to make calls. She showed me how to open the Call list and reviewed what I need to do. I went through the call list for 4 1/2 year olds and finish the age group. Then I start on the 3 1/2 year olds. I scheduled 2 children and left messages for 9 parents. Then I met with Wendy to review what I need to do for calling parents for her study.
Today I came in and Sam asked me to make calls. She showed me how to open the Call list and reviewed what I need to do. I went through the call list for 4 1/2 year olds and finish the age group. Then I start on the 3 1/2 year olds. I scheduled 2 children and left messages for 9 parents. Then I met with Wendy to review what I need to do for calling parents for her study.
Today I came in and Sam asked me to make calls. She showed me how to open the Call list and reviewed what I need to do. I went through the call list for 4 1/2 year olds and finish the age group. Then I start on the 3 1/2 year olds. I scheduled 2 children and left messages for 9 parents. Then I met with Wendy to review what I need to do for calling parents for her study.
Today I came in and Sam asked me to make calls. She showed me how to open the Call list and reviewed what I need to do. I went through the call list for 4 1/2 year olds and finish the age group. Then I start on the 3 1/2 year olds. I scheduled 2 children and left messages for 9 parents. Then I met with Wendy to review what I need to do for calling parents for her study.
Today I came in and Sam asked me to make calls. She showed me how to open the Call list and reviewed what I need to do. I went through the call list for 4 1/2 year olds and finish the age group. Then I start on the 3 1/2 year olds. I scheduled 2 children and left messages for
Today I went through EFM Scaling folders to make sure each page was numbered and initialed according to the participant number and coder initials. I went from 8 through the 200's. This needed to be done mainly to ensure that if an item was lost from a folder, it could be returned. Also along with this, I checked the front pages of each folder to make sure the video consent was marked correctly (all, none, etc) and to make sure there were no missing tasks (if there was, to mark which ones). The video consent forms were taken out to be put in a separate folder. These forms also had to have the participant number and coder initials. It's easy to see how information could get mixed up or switched in a lab when multiple studies by multiple people are being run. For a short time I made some copies, and finished off the day with a few thank-you notes for an EFM study.
Today, I made some copies and then set up for a 3 month visit for the Infant Feeding Study. I conducted the portions of the testing that involve the mother. This was my first time conducting a session, and Danika was initially going to be here also so we could do it together, but she was sick so I was on my own! I reviewed the protocol for everything beforehand so I was ready to go when needed. Everything went smoothly and I feel much more comfortable with helping to run sessions now!!
Today I came in and checked the calendar to see if there was anything scheduled. There was not. I finished putting numbers and initials on each page in the folders. I finished the 300's and started on the scaling folders. I got to folder 7 and then started to make calls. I made 1 call with Sam for practice and felt comfortable enough to start calling first thing when I am in tomorrow morning.
Today I came in and checked the calendar to see if there was anything scheduled. There was not. I finished putting numbers and initials on each page in the folders. I finished the 300's and started on the scaling folders. I got to folder 7 and then started to make calls. I made 1 call with Sam for practice and felt comfortable enough to start calling first thing when I am in tomorrow morning.
Today I came in and checked the schedule to see if there was something new I needed to do. There was nothing on the schedule so I continued the CITI testing. I finished the 3 quizzes I had left and printed it out. I meet with Cathy and gave her the test results. Cathy and Sam showed me a file cabinet of folders that needed dates and initials on every page. I started with #300 and finished at #315. I plan on coming in on Tuesday, check my calendar to see if there is anything I need to do before I finish the folders.
I continued calling for the EFM Scaling study again today. I noticed that as I was calling families of the younger participants, 2.5 year olds especially, many of the families were too busy at the moment to commit to anything else, with many of them having newborn babies in their family.
I had another SRF participant come into the lab this evening. The session went really well, he seemed to have a great time and the family was so nice. I've noticed that some of the eight year olds really don't seem entertained by the toys during the direction task, most of them seem to feel silly playing with the dolls. The kid who came tonight though seemed to have quite a bit of fun with them, he had a good imagination! The session was a little tricky in that he was pretty chatty. He definitely tried to have conversations during the tasks that he was supposed to be completing by himself, so that was a little tricky. I've noticed that a lot with the eight year olds, they seem to ask a lot more questions and want to talk during the tasks. Overall though, the session went just fine, no problems at all!
Today was another very busy day scheduling families for the infant feeding study! Unfortunately I forgot to make a blog entry for when I was in on Monday, so this one will include both days. On Monday I got to participate in testing the mom of a 3 month old for the infant feeding study. Anita showed me how to set up the computer task, read the instructions to the mom, and have the mom carry out the task. Then, Anita also showed me how to set up the taste perception task for the mom. I was a little nervous to debrief the mom after the test, because I have never seen it done before; however the mom took it very well and made light of the situation. It was fun to see her baby girl as well! After helping Anita with the study, I took care of scheduling some families that needed to get in for their 3 month sessions. I listened to voicemails, recorded them, and then returned them. The afternoon went by so fast!
Today, I spent the entire afternoon scheduling, emailing families, listening to voicemails, returning calls, and making 37+ week calls. I was able to enroll one mom today who is due April 15th, but I'm not sure if she will have her baby in time for us to include her in the study. I also was surprised that many of the moms who were more than 37 weeks had delivered early, and were already home with their new babies! I also returned many interest phone calls today, but many of those moms were not pregnant. Overall, it was a very successful afternoon, recruiting one more mom and getting everyone scheduled that I needed to.
Today I watched one of the latest DCF videos to get a better look at a whole session with sound (thanks Cathy for the tip on how to open them!). I also watched for transitions between tasks, which was helpful. I know it will be a lot easier once I'm actually in the session too.
Then I did IPP for awhile and got through quite a few Survey 2s and New babies with sibs. It's amazing how many parents sign their children up for this...
Today I called for the EFM Scaling study. It was pretty similar to calling for the other studies I have called for in the past, such as Psych Distancing and EFM Validation. Many families answered today, and therefore I was able to schedule a number of sessions. Today, every family that answered when I called scheduled a session with me.
Today I called for the EFM Scaling study. It was pretty similar to calling for the other studies I have called for in the past, such as Psych Distancing and EFM Validation. Many families answered today, and therefore I was able to schedule a number of sessions. Today, every family that answered when I called scheduled a session with me.
Today I called for the EFM Scaling study. It was pretty similar to calling for the other studies I have called for in the past, such as Psych Distancing and EFM Validation. Many families answered today, and therefore I was able to schedule a number of sessions. Today, every family that answered when I called scheduled a session with me.
Finished a set of DCCS
Today, I called a lot of families; I got through about 3 pages of the IPP. We are trying to finish up recruiting for the Infant Feeding Study once and for all, so this means calling families all of the time until we are done. Since our deadline is coming up fast, we need to be efficient and hopefully effective in our recruiting efforts. Once again, I was unable to directly enroll anyone, but I left a ton of voicemails, so maybe we will get lots of calls back from families who are interested and expecting. It gets frustrating when no one can be enrolled immediately, so I am hoping that all of my voicemail-leaving will pay off. We have almost reached the number of families that we need, though, which is really exciting!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today I worked on entering people into the IPP database. I entered about 70 new people and made sure that none of them were repeat entries. After calling for a while I realize the importance of carefully entering information, especially phone numbers. Tomorrow I am going to start back up on the hospital calling and help write a script for that.
Yesterday I worked on IPP and got a good way through the survey 1's. Today I finished up the survey 1s and did a chunk of the survey 2s also.
I attempted to call a couple kiddos today that needed to be rescheduled since Wendy is out of town this week but didn't reach of either of them. I'm going to try calling again tomorrow. I also entered data for the latest DCF kiddos today. Along with that, I tried to watch some videos for the DCF to look at transitions between tasks, etc, but the videos weren't playing on QuickTime. I know that there was something I worked on in the past where I had to open videos in a different format, but some of the videos were MP3 format, so I'm not even sure how those were videos. I'll have to check with Wendy about that.
Tonight I had an SRF research session. I was originally planning on testing two siblings an 8 and a 6 year old. I tested the 8 year, whose session ran pretty long because he persisted for nearly the entire 10 minutes each time, it got a little late and so his mom decided it'd be best if we rescheduled and tested the 6 year another evening. The 6 year old was pretty disappointed, but we're planning to have him come back again, so at least he'll still get to participate. Overall the session went well. I'm a little under the weather and have been losing my voice, so it was probably best that I didn't have to run both sessions, I'm not sure my voice would have lasted! Hopefully we'll be able to reschedule easily. I have one more session later this week, hopefully it goes well!
Today I continued cutting and laminating DCCS cards. This is the last set that needs to be made for the time being.
Today I continued cutting and laminating DCCS cards. This is the last set that needs to be made for the time being.
Today, I helped with the end of a three-month visit for the Infant Feeding Study. I sat in on the debriefing and worked on cleaning up after the family had left. This was really interesting as I was able to watch the mother's reaction during the debriefing and actually have a hand in running a session. After that, I recruited for the Infant Feeding Study. I left primarily voicemails and everyone I was able to get ahold of was not pregnant. Luckily, we have been pretty successful with mothers being pregnant and due before our deadline and in enrolling families who call back after being left a voicemail. Hopefully, some families will call back and we can finish recruiting soon!!
Today I did more call backs for the BMI study. I continued calling for the 6 year old group and was able to get a hold of a handful of parents but they were either uninterested in participating at the moment of their child did not qualify for the study. I then started working on hospital calling again. I only had enough time to call one hospital and was not able to get a hold of the women in person. I also looked through our scripts for that and realized that we only have a message script and not one for talking to the contact. I think that it might be helpful to draft one up in the next couple days because sometimes it can be difficult to ad lib the conversation when there are important things you have to remember to talk about. I also made a folder on the server for those files so they are able to be accessed and we have an additional copy that is not done through email.
Today I did more call backs for the BMI study. I continued calling for the 6 year old group and was able to get a hold of a handful of parents but they were either uninterested in participating at the moment of their child did not qualify for the study. I then started working on hospital calling again. I only had enough time to call one hospital and was not able to get a hold of the women in person. I also looked through our scripts for that and realized that we only have a message script and not one for talking to the contact. I think that it might be helpful to draft one up in the next couple days because sometimes it can be difficult to ad lib the conversation when there are important things you have to remember to talk about. I also made a folder on the server for those files so they are able to be accessed and we have an additional copy that is not done through email.
Today I worked on calling and scheduling 8 year olds for the SRF study. I was able to schedule 4 participants today, and one other who was a maybe and whose parents will be calling me back once they figure out their schedule.
So far calling has been very successful. I've been able to keep a pretty busy schedule with participants, which is great. I like to try to fit in at least two or three participants per week. It seems like we're making really great progress with the 8 year old group. I thought it would be a lot more difficult to schedule this age group, but so far the families have all been very cooperative and willing to participate. I probably have more families saying that they'd like to participate, but they just have too much on their plate when I call for 8 year olds, in comparison to 6-year old calling. Still, I've been able to have a lot of families commit to coming in.
There have also been a lot of siblings being tested. We aren't really calling to schedule 4 or 6 year olds, so it helps to use siblings to get a couple more participants. Overall, things are running very smoothly. I'm looking forward to running the three sessions I have next week!
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I was coughing a lot and not many parents were home. There were also no voice mail messages to return today. Today made me realize how difficult it can be to recruit participants for studies especially when there are strict qualifications. Also it made me think about how the time of day really affects how many parents we are able to reach. I have started to notice that I don't have as much success during the early afternoon hours as I do later in the day.
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I was coughing a lot and not many parents were home. There were also no voice mail messages to return today. Today made me realize how difficult it can be to recruit participants for studies especially when there are strict qualifications. Also it made me think about how the time of day really affects how many parents we are able to reach. I have started to notice that I don't have as much success during the early afternoon hours as I do later in the day.
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I was coughing a lot and not many parents were home. There were also no voice mail messages to return today. Today made me realize how difficult it can be to recruit participants for studies especially when there are strict qualifications. Also it made me think about how the time of day really affects how many parents we are able to reach. I have started to notice that I don't have as much success during the early afternoon hours as I do later in the day.
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I was coughing a lot and not many parents were home. There were also no voice mail messages to return today. Today made me realize how difficult it can be to recruit participants for studies especially when there are strict qualifications. Also it made me think about how the time of day really affects how many parents we are able to reach. I have started to notice that I don't have as much success during the early afternoon hours
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I was coughing a lot and not many parents were home. There were also no voice mail messages to return today.
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I was coughing a lot and not many parents were home.
Today I worked on more calling for the BMI study. I didn't get as much done as I hoped for because I
Today Sam put the EEG net on my head for practice for the EFM Validation study. The equipment is pretty interesting, and I am excited to hopefully be able to assist with preparing the net or watching parts of the study as it progresses. I also played the card sorting task with Erin to help her practice before she starts testing children. I had seen this task played out before in previous classes, but it was cool to actually take the test and see it from the child's perspective. I finished my day by making cards.
This evening I had three participants come to the lab for research sessions. It worked out that a family I called when scheduling 8 year olds, had children who were 4 and 6 as well, so I was able to test all three children in one evening. The kids were great, I thought they might get antsy having to be at the lab for a couple hours while their siblings were tested, but they were great. All three kids seemed to have a lot of fun. They were a little shy when they were in the sessions by themselves, but after all of them were done and they were back together, they were really excited and talking about how much fun they had. The 8 year old even told me that she wished she could do the study again, but she was going to be turning 9 soon so she'd be too old. It was a lot to have three sessions right in a row, but the kids were so cooperative that it really wasn't too bad. I don't have anymore sessions this week, so I'll just be heading in Friday to try to schedule some more participants. So far the scheduling has been going really well!
Today I began by checking emails, the voicemail log, and returning phone calls. There weren't any families who have emailed us back yet, so I may need to call them in order to get their 3 month sessions scheduled. The schedule here at CNBD fills up very quickly! After that, I checked voicemails on the phone, and returned one phone call from a mom who was not pregnant. I had to tell her she could not participate in the study unless she was pregnant, which was a bit disappointing because she was very interested. Next, I made phone calls for moms who have enrolled in the study who are 37 weeks or further along in their pregnancies. With those phone calls, I was able to schedule one mom for a two week session. I had difficulty scheduling with the CTSI, so I will need to ask Anita about that on Monday. For the rest of my shift, I worked on recruiting from the new IPP. I left many voicemails, and spoke to three moms, all of which were not pregnant. Hopefully I have better luck recruiting next week!
Today I worked on calling in the morning and booked 5 sessions for DCF. I few parents asked me to call them back at better times, so I should book a few more that way. This afternoon Wendy tested me on some of the tasks and we hope to start me testing kids in a week or so, depending on when we book kids!
Today I called for the EFM Validation study for awhile, and I scheduled two participants for next week, which will be the first ones in the study. That is pretty exciting because I think this study will be very interesting. After calling for awhile, I cut out some cards to be used on the participants in the study.
Today I called for the EFM Validation study for awhile, and I scheduled two participants for next week, which will be the first ones in the study. That is pretty exciting because I think this study will be very interesting. After calling for awhile, I cut out some cards to be used on the participants in the study.
Worked on DCCS cards again today. The set is almost complete, there are about 20-25 pages left to cut and laminate.
Today, I worked on the grams to kilocalories project a little more. Anita then trained me in conducting the tasks that deal with the mothers of the Infant Feeding Study. It was really interesting to be introduced to this side of the study and getting to see what actually goes on in this section of the Infant Feeding Study. Afterwards, I recruited participants for the IF Study. Even though our deadline is approaching very quickly, we have been pretty successful in finding our last few families. Although I did not enroll anyone today, I left a lot of voicemails; these voicemails are where a lot of our families come from. It is exciting to become more involved in all aspects of this study.
Today I continued calling for the BMI study and focused in on getting the last 5 participants in the 4 & 6 year old groups. I first returned the voice mail calls and still have not been able to get a hold of any of those parents. I called a little over 100 people today and was only able to schedule 1 6 year old girl. However, there were a bunch of parents that were going to call us back with measurements so we should be able to schedule at least one from that group. I didn't really learn anything new today except for I helped out one of the new callers when she had questions and gave her some advice on how to handle "difficult parents".
Today I continued calling for the BMI study and focused in on getting the last 5 participants in the 4 & 6 year old groups. I first returned the voice mail calls and still have not been able to get a hold of any of those parents. I called a little over 100 people today and was only able to schedule 1 6 year old girl. However, there were a bunch of parents that were going to call us back with measurements so we should be able to schedule at least one from that group. I didn't really learn anything new today except for I helped out one of the new callers when she had questions and gave her some advice on how to handle "difficult parents".
Today I sorted fruit loops for the DCF - we need them sorted by color because it could be a confound if a child liked certain colors better than others so chose now/later based on the colors presented.
Then I worked on IPP survey 1's. The wide variety of people who sign up for IPP always amazes me... there is no "type" that participates, at least based on demographics.
Today we are still waiting for the IPP list to continue our recruiting, therefore there was no phone recruiting today. Instead, I met with one of our new study supervisors, Megan, to go over how to schedule rooms at the CNBD. Next, I met with Anita, who will be going on maternity leave in a few weeks, to finish going over what my responsibilities will be when she is gone. I will be in charge of scheduling sessions, contacting families via phone and email, checking voicemails, and helping Megan with any sessions I am able to. After my meeting with Anita, I emailed a few families to schedule their three month visits. On Wednesday, hopefully I will have replies!
Today I cut and laminated DCCS cards for an upcoming study. Most of these were cards I haven't seen before. I wondered why researchers use an assortment of pictures and why some have a colored background with a black image while others have a white background with a colored image.
Today I cut and laminated DCCS cards for an upcoming study. Most of these were cards I haven't seen before. I wondered why researchers use an assortment of pictures and why some have a colored background with a black image while others have a white background with a colored image.
Today I cut and laminated DCCS cards for an upcoming study. Most of these were cards I haven't seen before. I wondered why researchers use different pictures and why some have a colored background with a black image while others have a white background with a colored image.
Today, I worked on a project of sorts for the Infant Feeding Study, in which I had to compare a given number of grams of a certain food to the number of kilocalories present in that food. I will need to collect data for two different scales. Hopefully, I will be able to create a cheat sheet so that we can look up the number of grams of a food and convert it to kilocalories easily. We are doing this because the scales can be very tempermental and do not always give a consistent reading for kilocalories. It is very time-consuming, but it will make our job a lot easier in the end.
Today in lab I had two participants come in for research sessions. The first girl who came into lab came with her father. I think it was the first time that I had a dad come in and not a mom, so it was fun to have a little different audience to explain the study to. The session went really well, she seemed to enjoy the study. Both the participant and her father seemed very interested in the study and were excited to be involved. Overall the session went smoothly.
The second participant today came in with her mom, they were also excited to be a part of the study. Like most kids I've tested so far, the girl seemed less than thrilled with the computer portion of the study, I think it just gets a little long. It's also not so exciting because they don't exactly win in the end, nothing really comes up on the screen to reward them, etc. A lot of the kids ask me after each task, "so how did I do, did I get them all right?" It's just different than computer games they play at home where there are lots of reinforcers, so they seem to get pretty bored with it. She seemed to enjoy the rest of the study though, and of course she loved picking out a prize in the end.
Just a little something I've noticed when testing 8 year olds. It seems like with the older children, the parents are giving the monetary compensation ($10) to the child instead of keeping it for themselves for travel, I didn't see that very often with the younger children. Just something I've noticed.
This morning, the scheduled DCF session canceled because the child got sick in the car on the way to ICD, but Wendy went through the set up with me. I also made a few calls to potential participants but didn't talk to anyone.
This afternoon I started off with observing a DCF session and going through all of the set up and clean up steps with Wendy. There were a few issues with the sound from the camera on the computers, so I eventually sat in the family waiting room and watched on one of the laptops there. After that session I practiced the DCF tasks on a friend to get the routine set in, and it went pretty well. I have some more practicing to do this weekend to get ready for Wendy "testing" me next week! Later, I made a couple copies and cleaned up the stimuli, and then I did a little IPP entering at the end.
Today I did an assortment of things including printing and putting together packets for the EFM Validation study and I started calling for the study. Doing these little tasks today made me realize all of the little things and the large amount of time and work that gets put into these studies and that contributes to the end result. For example, there were little things today that took extra time, such as rewording the script for the EFM Validation study, since its a brand new study, that contribute to the greater good of the finished product.
Today I did an assortment of things including printing and putting together packets for the EFM Validation study and I started calling for the study. Doing these little tasks today made me realize all of the little things and the large amount of time and work that gets put into these studies and that contributes to the end result. For example, there were little things today that took extra time, such as rewording the script for the EFM Validation study, since its a brand new study, that contribute to the greater good of the finished product.
Wednesday evening I had a participant come into lab for a research session. This was the first session I've had since I've been back for the semester, so I made sure to get to lab very early just in case I'd forgotten how to set something up. Everything went very smoothly. I was able to figure out all of the news forms that I needed and all of the computers and cameras were problem-free.
The mother and daughter who came were very nice and seemed really excited about the whole process. They really seemed to enjoy hearing what the study was about and participating in it. The new computer tasks went well, they got a little long and repetitive and I could tell that the participant was getting pretty bored with them. Overall though, she seemed to enjoy the session and the tasks, she was very excited about all of the goodies she got at the end, which I think was pretty motivating.
For my first session back, it went very well. I really didn't run into any problems. I have two more sessions on Friday, hopefully those go just as well!
