Facilities Description

The capabilities of the McCombs School Behavioral Research Laboratory are extensive and designed to facilitate the research of McCombs School faculty members and PhD students. There are two major rooms in the
Behavioral Research Laboratory: (1) a large room with tables and associated viewing area with video equipment, and (2) a workstation room. These rooms can be reserved together or separately by McCombs School faculty members and PhD students (see the "Reservation Procedures and Policies" page on this website). There is also a third room (Small Focus Room) that can be used for smaller experiments, conferences, or as a control area for administering experiments taking place in the other rooms.

Workstation Room (WS: "Computer Lab Room")

The workstation room contains 12 networked PC workstations with headsets, cameras, and microphones. The room can be used as a language laboratory, and movies or video clips can be played on individual PCs or shared with other PCs in the room. Example characteristics and capabilities of the room include the following:

• 8 user faces (mimic) can be recorded onto DVD or VHS.
• Each workstation can use NetMeeting to share information.
• Tailored multiple choice tests or questionnaires can be administered.
• Each station can be controlled so that researchers are able to:
  • Monitor any user's activity in real time.
  • Monitor up to four (4) workstations simultaneously.
  • Assign workgroups so users can communicate without disrupting others.
  • Communicate with users without disrupting others.
  • Share their PC with all users or any particular user or work sub-group.
  • Completely control any user's workstation.
  • Lock out any or all user keyboards.

There are many other capabilities of the workstation room, which is supported with Genesis and Media lab software. Genesis is a software-based control system featuring the newest technologies available for multimedia interactivity.

Large Conference Room with Table (LR: "Focus Group Room")

This room contains several tables and numerous chairs that can be configured for work groups, classroom settings, or focus group interviews. There are large, securable closets for storing research materials during data collection. Tables and chairs can be freely arranged in the room, and the closets contain moveable shelving.

Associated with this room is a viewing/equipment room that contains a one-way mirror and equipment for recording or projecting. Capabilities of the equipment include computer and video projection, video with sound recording capability (four cameras), and time and date stamp recording capability. VHS and DVD recording is possible.

Small Conference Room (CR)

This smaller room, located at CBA 6.497, has no projection or observation facilities, but can be used for smaller focus-group, individual, or similar experiments. Alternatively, this room can serve as a control location for administering experiments taking place in one or both of the other two rooms. There is a conference table that seats six, along with two filing cabinets. Please reserve this room only if you need it, as it might be possible to run separate experiments in both focus rooms during peak demand periods. Also please consider reserving the this room in lieu of the other focus room so that it may be saved for larger projects and/or studies that require projection or observation.

Training Information

Click here for a (very large) PDF file with user instructions. Further information on Genesis software and its capabilities can be found at http://www.linguatronics.com. Media lab facilitates the construction of experiments and recording their progress.
Click here for a PDF file with user instructions. Details are available at http://www.empirisoft.com/medialab/.

Assistance with using the software can be obtained by contacting the McCombs School of Business Training Team (http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/services/cbacc/training) at Trainers@mccombs.utexas.edu for a training session.

For assistance with the recording equipment, camera control, and so forth, the McCombs School of Business Media Services can be contacted (third floor in GSB, or Media.Services@mccombs.utexas.edu). It is advisable to arrange a training session prior to using the video equipment the first time. If problems arise during regular use, the Media Staff will assist you immediately; telephones in the viewing/equipment room and the workstation room have direct lines to the support desk.