Experimental Lab

SPGS Lab Proposal Competition 

During the summer (for experiments which will take place in the fall semester) and during the winter break (for experiments which will take place during the spring semester), an email is sent to faculty and graduate students in the School of Politics and Global Studies. Undergraduate students are also welcome to run experiments in the Lab with assistance from a faculty sponsor. Faculty are encouraged to spread the word of the proposal competition to their students.

Utilizing our large and representative undergraduate population is a perfect way to collect experimental data for your research!

The SPGS Experimental Lab can help researchers run on-campus and online experiments as well as focus group studies.

If you are interested in running an experiment for the upcoming semester in the SPGS Experimental Lab, we would like to encourage you to submit a proposal. The deadline for submission will be clearly listed in the invitation email.  Proposals submitted by instructors who have helped build the student subject pool will be considered first. We expect that we will be able to run 3-4 experiments during each semester. 

Please see the proposal requirements below and if you have any questions, please email Dr. Kim Fridkin at [email protected]. 

Q: Who is eligible to submit a proposal?

A: Any faculty member, graduate student, undergraduate student (with faculty sponsor) or lecturer in SPGS can submit a proposal. At least one member of your research team must be affiliated with Arizona State University. If the principal investigator is not an ASU faculty member, there must be a faculty sponsor associated with your study.

Additionally, all studies must be approved by the Institutional Review Board. Reviews are required for all proposed research involving human subjects to ensure subjects are treated ethically and their rights and welfare are adequately protected. Researchers must have IRB approval before classes begin for the relevant semester. Researchers using the SPGS Experimental Lab will use specific language to communicate the study procedures in their IRB application. 

Q: What should the proposal include?

A:  Your proposal should include the following:

• A title
• A description of the study design.
• An explanation of the importance of the study.
• An explanation of the number of subjects needed for the experiment. (We can usually provide researchers with about 30-50 subjects per condition, but this might differ depending on the number of conditions in the researcher’s design and the number of studies being conducted during the semester.)
• A discussion of the length of the experiment.
• An approximate date when you will be ready to run your experiment (after IRB approval)
• An appendix with proposed questions and description of stimuli.
• All studies utilizing the SPGS Experimental Lab require IRB approval through ASU. IRB approval, however, does not need to be obtained until after the proposal has been accepted. http://researchintegrity.asu.edu/humans

Q: How long should the proposal be?

A:  Proposals should be a maximum of five pages, including references. An appendix with proposed questions and description of stimuli will not count towards the page maximum.

Q: When is the deadline for submitting the proposal?

A: To be announced.

Q: How do I submit the proposal?

A: All proposals must be emailed to Dr. Kim Fridkin at ​[email protected] by the deadline with the subject heading: Fall 2025 SPGS Experimental Lab Proposal. Researchers who win the proposal competition will be informed prior to the start of the semester.