[lookit-research] Lookit/Children Helping Science Announcement

[Melissa Kline]

Dear Lookit researchers,

Thank you for a wonderful start to 2023 - just in the first three months of
the year, we’ve had over 3400 responses to 71 studies!

I'm writing today with a quick preview about an email you'll be receiving
shortly from Laura Schulz - Children Helping Science and Lookit are about
to officially merge! Laura’s email will have some detail about how this
transition will work, but the short version is that all your Lookit links
and existing studies (1) will remain active without interruption and (2)
will *also* be available at links that look like “
www.childrenhelpingscience.com/your-sub-page”.

On the non-technical side of this process, one thing this means is that we
are going to be experimenting over the next few months with a faster review
process for external studies. This is becoming necessary to keep up with
the volume of studies you all are submitting.

Peer review has been an incredibly important part of making this project
successful, and this community has excelled at making sure that all the
studies we put up are smooth, inviting experiences that leave families
excited to come back for another study. Peer review will still be available
and strongly recommended for all study types! Here is a brief summary of
how review will be conducted for all study types during this experiment,
which will begin on/around May 25 with the official launch of the new
merged website:

Lookit-internal studies

Peer Review: No changes - peer review is required for all submissions

Admin Review: No changes - admin review will be conducted as currently,
with the goal turnaround time of 1-2 weeks.

External studies

Bring-your-own meetings (Scheduled/Moderated) and Bring-your-own study
links (Unscheduled/Unmoderated)

Peer Review: Recommended but not required. If you are a lab member posting
your own first study, we strongly recommend you get your study peer
reviewed on Slack and review at least two other studies of the same type as
you’re planning to run.

Admin Review: Expedited, with a goal turnaround of 3 business days. Studies
will be reviewed to ensure they meet the Terms of Use
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScg6geDk8iDYfTBtuNPyfNaTyGfROuXiSw6jUPHv3b5KSWC0Q/viewform>
(e.g. that studies are IRB-approved by your research institution) and
provide the required study descriptions. During this expedited review
experiment, feedback will *not* be given about clarity,
age-appropriateness, or ensuring a smooth family experience.

As we get this experiment underway, we’ll be working on approaches to help
us maintain high-quality family experiences while speeding up the process
of study posting, including revised self-check resources. In the meantime,
we're eager to hear from you about what parts of the review process have
been working well (or not so well!) for you. If you would like to be part
of a working group that helps to shape how study review will work as we
continue to grow, please let us know - we're looking forward to talking to
you!

Melissa Kline Struhl (Lookit/Children Helping Science Executive Director)



-- 
Melissa Kline Struhl
Lookit Executive Director
Research Scientist, MIT Brain & Cognitive Sciences
mekline at mit.edu
https://lookit.mit.edu/ <http://lookit.mit.edu>
http://www.melissaklinestruhl.com/ <https://www.melissaklinestruhl.com>
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