1 Lab Info

Johnston Hall | Rooms 9 and 10

Louisiana State University

Department of Psychology

Lab Director: Don Zhang, PhD

Website: RANDM Lab

Lab Wiki: Github Link

2 Overview

At the Risk and Decision-Making (RANDM) Lab, we are interested in how people make decisions under risk and uncertainty in the work context, broadly defined. Some past and current project involve examining why employees take risks at work and what this means for organizations. We are also interested in how managers make decisions about prospective employees (i.e., job seekers) as well as how job applicants behave during the hiring process. Finally, we are also interested in the research methodology (e.g., data visualization) as well as the philosophy of science (e.g., meta-science).

2.1 Facilities

The RANDM Lab is located in the basement of Johnston Hall on Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge campus. The lab space is separated into a Student Office and a Behavioral Lab. The Student Office is open 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. Undergraduate and graduate researchers may enter at any time and use one of the two workstations. The Behavioral Lab contains six data collection stations as well as a small conference table. When available, the data collection station computers may also be used as a workstation. RANDM Lab members may use the behavioral lab when there are no experiments being conducted. The Behavioral Lab may also be used for small lab meetings. Keys to both the behavioral lab and student office can be found in the lockbox on the doorknob. The code to the lockbox is 8008 for the 2023-2024 AY. Always leave the keys in the lockbox. Never take them out after using them!!!

2.2 Equipment

The RANDM Lab houses two fully-equipped desktop workstations in the Computer Lab and six multi-purpose workstations in the Behavioral Lab. Lab members may use these workstations to conduct research and perform lab related tasks. Lab members also have access to a lab iPad they may check out for research purposes. All lab equipment and properties must be kept in the blue cabinet. Students who wishes to take equipment home must obtain permission from Don.

3 Personnel

The RANDM Lab is founded and directed by Don Zhang. The lab, however, primarily functions through the hard work of graduate and undergraduate researchers. Each semester, the RANDM lab consists of between five to eight undergraduate research assistants and one to three graduate researchers and post-docs. Lab personnel may find their relevant responsibilities and expectations below

3.1 Principal Investigator

My role is to oversee all research related activities in the RANDM Lab. As the lab Principal Investigator, I am responsible for providing researchers in the lab with various resources they need to succeed. However, as the PI, I also wear many hats such as teacher, mentor, and adviser. I will

  • Support your professional and personal development, broadly speaking.

  • Provide access and opportunity to resources in the form of equipment, funding, and personnel for research.

  • Suggest relevant theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approaches and resources to aid students’ research.

  • Review, edit, and provide feedback on your original research.

  • Share professional opportunities that may be relevant to the student’s career development.

  • Ensure a safe, supportive, and healthy research environment.

  • Maintain continued support outside of the non-academic calendar (i.e., summers, winter breaks).

3.2 Graduate Students

Graduate students are expected to work very closely with me on all research related activities. Advanced graduate students are also expect to take on leadership roles in research projects. Although I will provide supervision, support, and instruction to the best of my ability, I also expect you to independently acquire skills, knowledge, and expertise to develop your own research. In addition to LSU requirements for course work and degree milestones, graduate students in the lab are expected to:

  • Familiarity with departmental and administrative rules, policies, and procedures related to research.

  • Familiarity with the substantive, methodological, and empirical literature related to the lab’s research activities (See lab publications).

  • Independently keeping up with current literature with respect to the overall research agenda of the lab.

  • Lead and develop their own research program, particularly with respect to major milestones required for graduation (e.g., thesis, dissertation).

  • As advanced students (post-masters), you should be initiating and leading independent research with the PI or other collaborators.

  • Help train and mentoring undergraduate students within the lab.

  • Submit and present lab research at conferences and peer-reviewed journals.

  • Seek internal (e.g. LSU) and external (e.g., SIOP) grant funding.

3.3 Lab Manager

The lab manager is a graduate or advanced undergraduate student who has been in the RANDM lab for at least 1 full semester. The lab manager is responsible for various administrative tasks around the RANDM lab. Lab managers, however, are also encouraged to develop and advance their own research. Lab manager duties include:

  • Onboarding and training of new lab members

  • Overseeing the selection and recruiting of lab personnel

  • Overseeing lab experiments (SONA experiments)

  • Assist with recruitment of research participants

  • Maintain and updating lab website

  • Helping with other administrative tasks that may arise

  • Engage in their own independent research

3.4 Undergraduate Researcher

Students who are interested pursuing and leading their own research should speak to Don. Relatedly, they are encouraged to apply to one of several LSU-sponsored research opportunities such as LSU Discover Research Grant or the ASPIRE Scholar Program. You may become an undergraduate researcher through several routes:

  • Ogden Honors Thesis - Students in the Ogden Honor College may work with me as their thesis adviser. Students who are not in the Honors College also have the opportunity to complete an Honors Thesis. You must enroll during the Fall of your Junior year.

  • Discover Research Grant - This grant will pay you during the academic school year to conduct your independent research. There are multiple calls for proposals each year. Please talk to me if you are interested and would like me to supervise your research.

  • ASPIRE Undergraduate Research Program - The ASPIRE program allows undergraduates to get paid for research and travel to present their work at conferences. Unlike to the LSU Discover Grant, the ASPIRE program does not pay salary during the regular school year. It does, however, provide financial support for summer research as well as conference traveling.

Undergraduate researchers are expected to take leadership role in their project. This means that you will be treated more like a graduate student. Independent research experience is essential for admission into research-oriented graduate programs (e.g., PhD programs).

As an adviser, I will supervise, direct, and support your research to the best of my ability. However, scientific research is unlike class work. There are often no ‘right’ answers. You are expected to be independent, self-motivated, and industrious. Your research is part of the RANDM lab, which means you may use lab resources in equipment, space, and personnel to complete your research. You will also be expected to present the result of your research at conferences and submitting it for publication in scientific journals.

3.5 Research Assistants

Generally, each research assistant will be assigned to at least one specific project at a time. Research assistants will assist with a variety of research related tasks around the lab. These tasks may include:

  • Data collection

  • Literature search

  • Data cleaning

  • Survey testing

  • Copy editing

  • Attending lab meetings

  • Coding

  • Misc. research tasks

Research assistants are also encouraged to develop their own ideas that they can pursue as an independent research project. Students who are interested in pursuing a PhD are especially encouraged to pursue independent research. If you are unsure where to start, I suggest you speak with me or one of the graduate students in the lab.

3.6 PSY2999/4999

Undergraduate students may enroll in PSY2999 or PSY4999 to earn independent research credits while being part of the lab. Students also enroll in these sections if they are working on their honors thesis project. Students must review the syllabus and develop a plan for the semester with either Don and their graduate student mentee at the beginning of the semester. Student enrolled in PSY2999/4999 must have weekly meetings with their graduate student mentee.

4 General Policies

4.1 Hours

Graduate students should treat your PhD as a full-time job. This means expecting to work between regular business hours (9 to 5), Mon – Fri. Although research in academia is flexible and remote work is possible, lab members are expected to be on campus/in office at least 3 days a week to maximize collaboration, intellectual engagement, and building camaraderie. Ultimately, I encourage you to find what works for you for getting work done but also contribute to the culture-building and collaborative needs of the lab.

4.2 Holidays

Vacations are encouraged. Take them! Please observe LSU calendar for official holidays (e.g., Christmas, Mardi Gras, etc). You should also take some time off during the summer (3 weeks, with flexibility. Please notify Don when away from office/computer). However, summers are prime time for research and writing due to reduced course and teaching obligations. Thus, you are expected to be working on research (e.g., working towards publications) and degree milestone (e.g., thesis and dissertations) during summer months. I expect you to be working at least 20 hours per week on research activities and/or professional development (e.g., acquiring new skills). Individual arrangements may vary for students on full-time external internships or grants. Please speak with Don before each summer regarding your summer plans.

4.3 Communication

All lab-related communications are contained on Microsoft Teams, which is a real-time team-based communication platform. MS Teams can be accessed via your web browser (e.g., Google Chrome), as a Desktop app, and as a Mobile app.

You are expected to check and respond to emails and Teams messages in a timely manner to keep updated on lab announcements and project-related discussions. This means responding to messages within 48 business hours maximum (even if this means a thumbs-up emoji). If you receive emails or Teams messages from me during non-business hours, you are not obligated or expected to respond until you return to the office.

4.4 Lab Meetings

Each graduate student will have a weekly hour-long meeting with me. Graduate students are expected to prepare their weekly update no less than 3 hours prior to the meeting. The purpose is to set the goal for the week as well as review your progress from the previous week. You should be prepared with a list of completed tasks from the week before, an update on current project status, and a list of actions for the current week. If there is nothing to update/discuss this week, please let me know at least 24 hours ahead of time.

Graduate students are expected to meet with their undergraduate mentees ever week. These meetings can be used for research coordination, mentoring, or other check-ins regarding the undergraduates performance.

Finally, I have a virtual and physical open-door policy. Feel free to message me on Teams or visit me in my office, if you have questions, ideas, or concerns at any time.

4.5 Authorship

Authorship on research outputs (manuscripts, posters, etc) is given to individuals who made meaningful and substantial intellectual contributions, which include, but are not limited to, significant contribution to literature synthesis, theory development, research design, hypotheses generation, data analysis, and manuscript writing/editing. All members of a research project are expected to significantly contribute to research within the lab.

All projects will have a lead researcher, which can be anyone in the lab. The lead researcher is responsible for directing the research effort, delegating tasks, and actively moving the project forward. The lead researcher is usually responsible for the first draft of the final manuscript. Graduate students who provide supporting roles (e.g., data analysis, literature review) are expected to complete the assigned task in a timely manner.

I will try to be be transparent and clear about authorship roles at early stages of the project. However, new authors may be added to a project based on their contributions at later stages of the project. And existing authors may be removed if they fail to fulfill their responsibilities and complete the necessary research tasks in an accurate and timely manner.

4.6 Dormant Projects

If a researcher collects or is given a data but does not make reasonable progress on project within 1 year, I will re-assign the project (if appropriate) to another person to expedite publication at my discretion. If a student or post-doc voluntarily relinquishes their rights to the project prior to the 1-year window, I will also re-assign the project to another individual. The original researcher may either be moved to a supporting authorship role or removed from the paper altogether, depending on the level of past contribution. Students who are unable to meet expected timelines due to other personal or professional obligations must maintain regular communication with the PI. This policy is here to prevent data from remaining unpublished, but is meant to give priority to the person who collected the data initially.

4.7 Theses, Dissertation, and Independent Research

Thesis and dissertation studies are led by the graduate student and supervised by me. In addition, graduate students are encouraged to pursue independent research studies during their time at LSU. The graduate student will have first priority to lead research outputs (e.g., conference presentations and publications) resulting from theses and dissertations, with guidance from me. Depending on the level of independence, career goals of the student, and my level of input, the student may pursue a sole-authored publication with their dissertation.

In events where the student chooses not to pursue publication with their thesis and dissertation study, I reserve the right to use data collected by the student for publication. The graduate student will always be included in any research output resulting from a thesis or dissertation. Authorship order will depend on their level of intellectual contribution. Usually, if a paper is published completely with the graduate student’s data/study, the graduate student will remain as the first author. However, if the thesis/dissertation data is used as part of a multi-study paper led by me, the graduate student may be positioned as a supporting author, if their level of contribution no longer satisfies the requirements of a first author. In all of the situations described above, the student should consult with me on decisions involving publications based on a thesis/dissertation/independent project. I will always prioritize the graduate’s decisions with regard to how their study will be used.

5 Software

5.1 Essential Internet Accounts

Microsoft Teams: All lab members must be signed up Teams Lab members expected to keep up with lab-related communication using Teams

Microsoft OneDrive: Please make sure you are enrolled in the RANDM Lab OneDrive. Essential lab-related documents and various research related resources can be found on the shared lab folder.

SONA Researcher Account: Graduate students and RAs who are actively involved in data collection via the SONA subject pool must obtain a researcher account. You may request an account by emailing (cc Don and the graduate student PI (if applicable)) the SONA administrator ()

Github Github is required for version control and is particularly useful when working in R.

Google Scholar: Google Scholar is recommended for advanced students who are interested in pursuing academia.

Open Science Framework: Graduate students and researchers are required to have accounts on OSF to best engage in Open Science Practices

5.2 Software

All of the software below are free and open-source, which means you can download them to your personal computer. They are all installed on the RANDM Lab computers, as well.

R and R-Studio. Please download the latest version of R and R-Studio to conduct all statistical analyses in the RANDM Lab.

GitHub Desktop GitHub has an optional desktop client to facilitate version control. However, all git-related actions can be completed using RStudio or the terminal.

Jamovi. Jamovi is an user-friendly and open-source statistical software. Students may use Jamovi for their first project (e.g. undergraduate) but are required to move onto R as soon as possible. For graduate students, jamovi may be used as a supplemental tool but all final analyses needs to be done in R (See library(jmv) for how to use Jamovi in conjunction with R).

Zotero is a open-source citation manager. I very highly recommend that you use Zotero for managing your papers and creating your citations. A great tutorial can be found here

6 Resources

6.1 Funding

The RANDM Lab current has funding from the National Science Foundation (2022 to 2027) to conduct research on workplace risk taking. Research activities that advance the aims of the grant (Read the project description here) may be eligible to receive funding for research projects (e.g., theses/dissertations). Lab members who present grant-related work are eligible to receive travel funding for one conference per year. Details on eligibility and award amount are found below.

  1. Students who are presenting grant-funded work as a lead author will receive $1000 in support toward their trip, provided they apply for the graduate college travel reward and the HSS travel reward.

  2. Students who are presenting grant-funded work as a supporting author will receive $500 in support toward their trip.

  3. Students who submits grant-funded work as lead author (e.g., to SIOP) but is rejected will receive $500 in travel support.

6.2 Conferences

Conference Date Submission Deadline
SIOP Conference April October
SJDM Annual Meeting November June
IPAC Conference July Janurary

7 Onboarding

Tasks to be completed in the first 2 weeks of joining the lab

  • Set up a meeting with the Lab Manager
  • Sign up for a enroll in the lab channel for Microsoft Teams.
  • Swing by to check out the Lab facilities (Johnston Rooms 9 and 10)
  • Check out the RANDM Lab website
  • Send Don your website member profile and photo.
  • Complete the CITI Research Ethics training and send the completion certificate to the Lab Manager
  • Read the entire Lab Manual (Find link in the MS Teams)
  • Undergraduate RAs should review the PSY2999/4999 Course Syllabus
  • Undergraduate RAs should obtain a blank copy of the RA Weekly Update Form
  • Graduate students must read abstracts of recently-published articles in this lab to familiarize with lab’s current research.
  • Visit Github Link for lab wiki.