Appendix B: Principles and Procedures in the Operation of an Infant Experimental Research Laboratory

Abstract

In the renaissance of experimental infant laboratory research over the last 15 years there has developed a body of informal knowledge pertaining to the operation of an infant experimental-research laboratory. Each investigator, in establishing a new laboratory, has discovered for himself or herself the problems that must be solved in such an enterprise. Working first in an already established setting is sometimes deceptive for the individual who then must establish a new setting, because the practices and procedures of the old setting are the results of problems being solved and do not necessarily provide the new investigator with a perspective of how to avoid the problems in the first place. The purpose of this Appendix, therefore, is to set down some of the practices and procedures that we have found useful along with their rationales and the choices that can be made. Most experimental infant research is a very costly enterprise both in terms of money and time. If the details and ideas provided herein reduce the problems for new investigators or aid already-working investigators to improve their laboratories, its aims will have been achieved. This brief discussion is also intended to provide advanced undergraduate and graduate students, first entering infant research, with some understanding of the variety of considerations involved in infant laboratory settings. These considerations range from ethical issues to the practices used in an infant laboratory that are of especial importance because the subjects are human infants. I had the opportunity to learn some of the things included here from visits to infant research laboratories around the country and from talking with other investigators. Some of the practices described here were worked out over periods of trial and error. Over the years students have contributed significantly to the practices observed in our laboratory both by their positive suggestions