The IDeA Labs are part of the IDeA Centre, where the development of children with educational risks is empirically investigated. The lab structure includes facilities, testing equipment, as well as personnel and serves to support researchers in conducting behaviour-based and neuroscientific studies.

The IDeA Labs team supports the researchers of the IDeA Centre in all phases of the research process in methodological, organisational, and technical regards. Following a "Joint Lab" approach, researchers from the three partner institutions DIPF, Goethe University, and Sigmund Freud Institute, as well as all other members of the IDeA Centre, are provided with an infrastructure for implementing complex research projects, far beyond what the individual institutions could offer.

Child-friendly Facilities for On-site Studies at DIPF

The on-site facilities include child-friendly lab rooms for different types of studies. For the time before and after testing and during breaks, there is a play and recreation area with lots of games, books, and materials for colouring and crafts. Parents and siblings can also wait there during testing. The specially created cartoon mascot "Laborius" helps researchers in explaining the study procedures in a child-friendly manner.

The facilities include labs for both individual and group testing, an electroencephalography (EEG) lab, as well as several eye tracking labs. A lab with a mock MRI scanner prepares children in a realistic manner for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. The actual MRI testing takes place at the Brain Imaging Centre (BIC) of Goethe University Frankfurt.

Specialised and General Research Equipment

Studies take place both in the child-friendly facilities of the IDeA Labs and off-site in schools and kindergartens. For both settings, the lab structure provides specialised research equipment (e.g., mobile and stationary EEG and eye-tracking systems) and general testing equipment (e.g., tablets, laptops, and video cameras) and supports researchers in the use of this equipment.

Methodological and Technical Support

The IDeA Labs offer a wide range of support for planning and implementing research projects. The lab team provides support in the design and programming of online and offline experiments, as well as methodological and technical support in the use of more complex neurocognitive research methods such as eye-tracking, EEG, or fMRI. 
The lab team also assists with the processing and handling of research data and helps automate analyses and the creation of individualised study feedback letters for participants.

Participant Recruitment

The lab team assists research projects in recruiting participants. For this purpose, it maintains a database of parents and their children who are interested in participating in scientific studies at the IDeA Centre. The IDeA Centre is also a partner of the Campus School Programme, which, among other things, facilitates access to schools for researchers.

Educational Psychology Test and Training Materials

Members of the IDeA Centre have access to an extensive test library. It contains over 400 standardised tests, training materials, and supplementary literature. The test library focuses on the areas of learning and school. It is administered in cooperation with the Research Library Frankfurt at DIPF.

Data Collection and Management System REDCap

The lab team operates the data collection and data management system REDCap, which is hosted at DIPF. Amongst other things, REDCap can be used for online and offline data collection, entering research data manually, and managing longitudinal studies. It serves as the foundation for many automated analysis workflows and ensures the documentation and integrity of research data throughout all stages of the research process.

Team IDeA Labs

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