Wharton Behavioral Lab
A Center for Observation and Analysis
The Wharton Behavioral Laboratory – a state-of-the-art experimental research laboratory – allows Wharton faculty and doctoral students with a dedicated behavioral research environment.
Supporting a broad range of behavioral research and experimental research methods – from psychology studies on consumer behavior, to experimental economics research on market behavior, to investigations into group and interactive situations such as negotiations and game theory – the lab is an integral resource for innovative research being conducted across the School. Over the past year, 20 faculty and 11 graduate students ran experiments totaling 16,000 subject hours and collected more than 40,000 observations.
Video cameras, mounted onto each computer and time-synched with the materials being presented, enable researchers to record and study the moment-to-moment reactions of participants to what they are seeing on-screen.
Key components of Wharton's Behavioral Lab include:
- 16 dedicated computer workstations
- Researcher's observation room
- Video cameras to monitor subject's response
Technical Platform
Software:
- Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise
- Microsoft Office 2007
- Qualtrics survey software
- Custom experimental software
Hardware and Environment:
- Dell Optiplex 745 workstations
- Audio and video capture of participants
- Observation room with one-way glass
For More Information
- For information on using the Behavioral Lab, Wharton researchers can contact their distributed computing support representative [Wharton only]: http://inside.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/distributedreps.html