Interested in participating?
Thank you for your interest in our research. We are regularly running studies that look at children and adolescents’ ability to interact with others – and are always looking for parents/caregivers who are interested in having their children participate in studies.
Please have a look at our current studies to see if we are running a study that your child could participate in right away. You may also sign your child up on our future contact list so that you can be contacted when your child is the right age for a study we are conducting. Please note that signing up for future contact does not mean that you are obliged to participate, it just means that a lab member will contact you to ask if you are interested once your child turns a certain age. Thank you for your consideration, this type of research would not be possible without the generous contribution of time and support of families in our local community.
What are our studies like?
Our studies are non-evaluative and game-like, so that children and adolescents have fun while they participate. Children will typically work individually with a research assistant to complete various activities. These activities vary depending on the study, but can involve watching video clips and answering questions, generating responses to communicative scenarios, filling out a questionnaire, recalling information they were asked to hold in mind, or completing a task on a computer or tablet.
We typically book parents/caregivers and their children for an hour-long session, so that there is enough time to explain the study and make sure children are comfortable with the research environment before beginning. Most studies only involve one visit to the lab. The layout of our lab is such that you are able to view your child’s activities during the visit.
We also run some studies online, which are either done independently through an online program or survey platform, or through a scheduled Zoom meeting.
After your child participates in a study, they will receive a small toy or gift card as an appreciation of their time. Once the data for the study your child has participated in has been collected, families will receive a summary of the results/implications of the study (i.e., either through a letter or through our newsletter).
All of our studies have been reviewed and have received ethical approval from the University of Waterloo’s Research Ethics Board and you will be informed on the specific procedures for the individual studies prior to agreeing to participation.
How long do studies take?
Our studies typically take between 20 and 45 minutes. We book parents/caregivers and children for an hour-long session so that there is enough time to explain the study and make sure the children are comfortable in the testing environment before beginning.
How to sign up for study participation
There are several ways parents/caregivers can sign up their child to participate:
- If you would like to be notified when a study opens up that your child is the right age for, please complete the Join our Participant Database form. Signing up for our database does not obligate you to participate in a study, it simply means that we will contact you with information about studies that your child is eligible to participate in.
- If your child is the right age for a study we are currently running, please feel free to email us at childresearch@uwaterloo.ca. We will then send you information about the study, including information on how to book a time to come into lab (if it is an in-lab study).
If you would like more information about any of our studies or more information about how to get involved or what is entailed, please contact us by email at childresearch@uwaterloo.ca.
What will I receive after participating?
After your child participates in a study, they will receive a small toy as appreciation for their time. Once all the data for the study your child participated in has been collected, you will be sent a letter explaining the results and implications of that particular study.
There are a number of pages on our website that you may find of interest:
- On our Take-home points page, we provide brief summaries of the various findings that have come from studies in our lab (maybe ones your child has participated in!)
- On our Ask a Researcher page, we answer parents'/caregivers' general questions about children and adolescents' socio-communicative abilities. We post previous questions and corresponding responses from our graduate student researchers.
- On our Suggested books page, we provide suggestions for books that cover some of the topics we study in our lab.
- On our Featured Research page, we post short summaries of our student researchers' work.