A couple weeks ago, I got a call from the Infant Cognition lab at a major university near me. A cold call. They even asked me if I had a baby.
But then they asked if we wanted to participate in a study. I thought about it for a second and then thought "well, what else am I doing?" and agreed. So I made an appointment.
This morning, Baby Girl and I drove downtown. A grad student met us at the gate to swipe us in with her access card. She walked us inside, got some demographic information and went over some consent forms with me.
Then Baby Girl and I watched an animation of some balls bouncing off each other. For about 10 minutes. And that was the whole study. The research assistant gave Baby Girl a board book as her compensation for participating, explained to me the purpose and the preliminary findings of the study (oh, be still my teacher's heart), and we were on our way.
Did we cure autism this morning? Did we make a major breakthrough in human development? Did we pioneer new methods for early childhood education.
Neh. But I like to think we did our own little part. For science.
Very cool! I am pleased to report that I too did my part for science. I was part of a study at U of T to determine if more postpartum care should become standard to help lessen the cases of PPD. Sadly, I didn't get a board book but I did get a gift certificate for Shopper's Drug Mart! :)
ReplyDeleteOh, such fun! We used to do those when we lived close to some bigger universities.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty cool. A free book for 10 minutes, not bad! I did a study while I was pregnant. Anything to help other moms. Well, within reason.
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I saw your tweet this morning & wondered what y'all were up to ;)
ReplyDeleteThat is cool! My hubby got a letter asking him to participate in an MS study. Let's note, I AM THE ONE WHO HAS MS. I thought about contacting them to correct, but it would have been an experimental med so no nursing, and I haven't been having the issue they were studying, even though I did in years gone by.
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