Creators
Konrad Grabiszewski, Ph.D.
Mohammad bin Salman College |
Alex Horenstein, Ph.D.
Miami Herbert Business School |
Homo MOBILIS and MOBILE SCIENCES
Mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) are indispensable in our lives. We use them more frequently and rely on them in our jobs, classrooms, and every day personal matters. The era of Homo Mobilis is already here.
As scientists, we need to adapt to this new era. Modern technology not only provides enormous opportunities to conduct research, but also changes how we conduct research. It is time for Mobile Sciences and Mobile Experiments.
As scientists, we need to adapt to this new era. Modern technology not only provides enormous opportunities to conduct research, but also changes how we conduct research. It is time for Mobile Sciences and Mobile Experiments.
Mobile Experiment
What is it?
A mobile experiment is an innovative method to conduct research. It is the gamification of a research question in the form of an app for mobile devices. A mobile experiment helps to answer a scientific question while providing entertainment to its users. The data collected is used to conduct research and write scientific papers, while preserving the anonymity of the participants.
Scientific advantages
There are several scientific advantages of mobile experiments over traditional laboratory experiments.
- Better experiments. Instead of a couple of dozen of college students, with mobile experiments, we can potentially reach millions of people with diversified backgrounds (age, nationality, education, etc.). This is very important in order to have a representative sample, to avoid sample selection bias, and to test differences across population types.
- Novel scientific questions. When people are just one click away from an experiment, we can conduct studies that are very difficult in the traditional laboratory setting. For example, long-term or repeated experiments; experiments which require mobility of participants; or experiments with novel data generated by wearable accessories.
- Revise and modify on the go. Mobile experiments can be modified while they are still being conducted. This is important if, for example, the initial results of the experiment indicate that a re-design is necessary in order to answer additional questions.
- Experiments evolve with technology. Technological innovations focused on mobile devices – VR, AR, and everything else we can't imagine today – open many doors for important and interesting research projects. Mobile experiments allow us to use that technology in the pursuit of scientific progress.
Strategize It! aS a scienTIFIC PROJECT
We developed Strategize It! to better understand human behavior. In particular, we are interested in how people make decisions when facing an opponent (interactive situations) and when confronted with risk.
We collect data provided by users (age, country, gender) and generated by users: what choices they make and how long it takes them to make choice (response times).
While we do not impose age restrictions on who can play Strategize It!, we do not knowingly use data from people younger than 18 years old. Nor do we knowingly collect their personal information; if we learn that we have inadvertently gathered personal data from people under 18 years of age, we will take reasonable measures to promptly delete such personal data from our records.
After you have played Strategize It!, you might be interested in the scientific analysis based on the game. After all, you have been part of a new and exciting research adventure. We will be posting the papers with the results here as soon as they are finished. In the meantime, check our websites for the results from our previous mobile experiment Blues and Reds.
We collect data provided by users (age, country, gender) and generated by users: what choices they make and how long it takes them to make choice (response times).
While we do not impose age restrictions on who can play Strategize It!, we do not knowingly use data from people younger than 18 years old. Nor do we knowingly collect their personal information; if we learn that we have inadvertently gathered personal data from people under 18 years of age, we will take reasonable measures to promptly delete such personal data from our records.
After you have played Strategize It!, you might be interested in the scientific analysis based on the game. After all, you have been part of a new and exciting research adventure. We will be posting the papers with the results here as soon as they are finished. In the meantime, check our websites for the results from our previous mobile experiment Blues and Reds.
