Research you can participate in: Online surveys and studies

Would you like to be a participant in a scientific study? Increasingly, researchers in the behavioral and cognitive sciences are using the internet to conduct surveys and online experiments.

On this page, I feature links to studies relevant to parenting and child development.

When you click on a link below, you will open a page that provides more information about each study.

As a rule, each research project has been approved by a college or university review board.

However, you should always read the information carefully to make sure you are comfortable with the terms of the study and agree to participate at your own risk.

Are you a researcher who would like to add your study to my list? If so, please click here.

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Children's and adolescents' relationships in school

Seeking mothers and fathers over the age of 18

Ali Rosenberg, Amanda Gates, and Drs. Stefanie Sinno and Kate Richmond of Muhlenberg College are collecting data from parents about peer interactions and relationships throughout childhood and adolescence.

Their survey takes between 5-10 minutes to complete. To participate, click here.

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Postpartum women's relationships and sexuality

Seeking mothers between the ages of 18-40 who have infants between 2 and 12 months old.

Professor Peter Gray and graduate student Michelle Escasa of the University of Nevada are interested in female sexuality, social relationships, and facial preferences of postpartum women.

Their online questionnaire will take about 15-45 minutes to fill out. You can read the details and give your consent to participate here.

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Parenting and child anxiety

Seeking parents who are over 18 and who have children between the ages of 5 and 18

Caitlin Burditt, a graduate student in clinical psychology at the University of Rhode Island, wants to know about your emotional and behavioral responses during times when your child seems anxious.

Her online questionnaire takes about 25-30 minutes to complete. Your answers will be kept anonymous. To participate, click here.

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What are acceptable treatments for deviant child behavior?

Department of Psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University

Seeking people 18 years and older who are proficient in written English

Psychologist James W. Diller of Eastern Connecticut State University wants to know what you think are appropriate ways to deal with problem behavior in children.

His online questionnaire consists of a series of written vignettes, each describing a different child with problem behavior. Along with each child, there will be a description of a possible treatment. You will be asked to judge how appropriate the treatments are.

The questionnaire takes about 30 minutes to complete. To participate, click here.

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Your teenager's computer use

Department of Public Health at the Weill Cornell Medical College

Seeking parents (aged 32-70) of teenagers (aged 13-17 years)

Jennifer A. Epstein of Cornell University is looking for parents to fill out a survey about their teenagers' use of computers and electronic games.

The questionnaire takes between 10-30 minutes to complete. To participate, click here.

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What your child understands about the brain

Sponsor: Department of Psychology, Temple University

Seeking parents of children (aged 4 to 18 years)

Temple University's Peter Marshall is doing research on what children understand about the brain.

He's asking the parents of children, aged 4 to 18, to ask their kids a series of questions and submit the answers online.

The questionnaire takes about 10 minutes to complete. To participate, click here.

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Perceptions of Children’s Behavior

Sponsor: Department of Psychology, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Seeking parents (or grandparents) of children (or grandchildren) under the age of 18. Teachers of school-age children are also invited to participate.

In this study, you will be asked to view a brief video and complete a brief survey about the child in the video. In total, the entire study should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The researchers seek a deeper understanding of how people view children’s behavior in social and educational settings.

The study is being conducted by Mark J. Sciutto, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Psychology), Jeffrey Rudski, Ph.D. (Professor of Psychology), Erin Herman, and Lauren Naab at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

To participate in this online survey, please click here.

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Paternal Behavior and Health

Sponsor: Anthropology Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

This is study, which was designed to "understand the mood and health changes associated with fatherhood, " is now closed to recruitment. The researchers are currently analyzing their data. Peter Gray, the principal investigator, will update Parenting Science readers about the outcome at the end of 2009.

The Moral Sense Test

Sponsor: Cognitive Evolution Laboratory, Harvard University

Requirements: Macromedia Flash

Researchers at the Department of Psychology of Harvard investigate the evolutionary and developmental foundations of the human mind.

Currently, they are running an online study of moral judgments. How do you decide what is right and wrong? Fiery Cushman and his colleagues have devised a short series of moral dilemmas to “probe the psychological mechanisms underlying our moral judgments.”

If you’d like to take this Moral Sense Test, click here.

In addition, Cushman and developmental psychologist Susan Carey have another study open. This one pits you against a computer in a series of social decision-making games.