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Members Area

This page is for USYD Meta Lab members only. Enter the lab password to continue.

Lab Members Portal

Welcome to the
Meta Lab.

Everything you need to hit the ground running — tools, protocols, ethics, and lab norms. If something's missing or out of date, let Kit know.

🌱 Onboarding 🛠 Software & Tools 🚀 Launch a Study 📋 Ethics 📅 Meetings 📖 Full Wiki
Getting started

Onboarding checklist

New to the lab? Work through these steps in order. Most can be done before your first week.

Software to install

💻

VS Code

Code editor for HTML, JS, CSS and Markdown — the main tool for building experiments.

Download →
📊

R + RStudio

Statistical computing for data cleaning and analysis. Install R first, then RStudio.

Download →
📐

JASP

Point-and-click stats with Bayesian and frequentist analyses. Great for quick checks.

Download →
🐙

GitHub Desktop

Simple Git client for version control. All lab projects live on GitHub.

Download →
📚

EndNote

Reference manager with a shared lab library — ask Kit for access to the library.

Download →
☁️

OneDrive

Desktop app for local sync of lab folders with version history. Install the desktop client.

Download →

Accounts to set up

Communication norms

Face-to-face is preferred — drop by if Kit's door is open, or bring questions to weekly one-on-ones or group lab meetings. Email is for formal requests (e.g. feedback on a draft). Teams is for quick questions.

Broader lab community

Students are encouraged to attend larger multi-lab meetings. SLAC focuses on cognition; REAL focuses on emotion. Both run regularly and are a great way to get feedback early.

Software & Tools

Lab resources

Core platforms and tools we use day-to-day for running studies, managing data, and collaborating.

MetaForge

Our primary platform for coding and hosting online experiments. Build, publish and monitor studies.

metaforge.live →
MM

Meta Measures

Hosted app for lab workflow measures. Use this for standard questionnaires and scales.

Open app →
PN

Psych Norms

Streamlit app for psychological norms — useful for stimulus selection and norming checks.

Open app →
O

Organisr

Research planner for keeping track of study progress, milestones, and timelines.

organisr.live →
R

MetaLab R Package

Lab R package with tools for analysis, reproducibility, and project scaffolding. Install via GitHub.

GitHub →
TL

Task Library

Archive of all lab experiments and paradigms. Browse before building something new.

Browse library →

Downloading data with R

# Load the lab package library(MetaLab) # Set your API token (Profile → API Tokens in MetaForge) metaforge_set_token("your-api-token-here") # List all your projects projects <- metaforge_list_projects() # Download data from a specific project data <- metaforge_get_data("your-project-id") # Or download everything at once all_data <- metaforge_get_all_data(combine = TRUE)
Study workflow

Launching a study

The full pipeline from experiment build to live data collection. Follow these steps in order.

01

Build on MetaForge

Build your experiment on MetaForge and publish it when the study is ready to test.

Use the built-in Gemini AI for help, or a paid Claude account with the lab bot. When ready, click Publish to get your experiment URL.

https://metaforge.live/?run={your-project-id}

02

Set up on Prolific (if using)

Use the Prolific integration or set it up manually, then prepare the URL and payment settings.

Use MetaForge's built-in Prolific integration (Project Settings → Prolific tab) or set up manually. Append the Prolific ID to your URL and set pay to £6/hour. Use Quota Sample for balanced gender.

Prolific →
03

Set up on SONA (if using)

Add the study in SONA, keep the protocol text exact, and then handle the completion redirect and school approval.

Add new study in SONA. Name, brief abstract, and detail abstract must be exactly what it says in the SONA advertisement in the relevant umbrella ethics protocol.

Open SONA system →

  • Study Name: exactly what it says in the SONA advertisement in the relevant umbrella ethics protocol. If it has already been used, you will get an error and you may make a slight modification, for example add a full stop at the end.
  • Brief abstract: exactly what it says in the SONA advertisement in the relevant umbrella ethics protocol.
  • Detailed description: exactly what it says in the SONA advertisement in the relevant umbrella ethics protocol.
  • Credit: 1 = 60 minutes, so set accordingly.
  • Duration: set to the study duration.
  • Human Res Ethics Com Approval Code: enter your ethics code, for example 2022/796.
  • Active Study? set to Yes.
  • Keep scrolling down for advanced settings...
  • Study URL (if online): use the MetaForge link with &survey_code=%SURVEY_CODE% added, for example https://metaforge.live?run=XXXXXX&survey_code=%SURVEY_CODE%.
  • Automatic Credit Granting: set to NO.
  • Everything else: leave at the default settings.
  • Save study.
  • When you open a study, you will see the study information. You need the Completion URL.
  • It will look like this:
    https://sydneypsych.sona-systems.com/webstudy_credit.aspx?experiment_id=3681&credit_token=4a679ef8e7234d5faab5a3e1d27ed843&survey_code=XXXX
  • In MetaForge, go to Settings → Distribute → Redirects and copy the completion link without the survey_code bit. For the example above, paste only:
    https://sydneypsych.sona-systems.com/webstudy_credit.aspx?experiment_id=3681&credit_token=4a679ef8e7234d5faab5a3e1d27ed843
  • After that, get school approval by filling in the approval form.
  • The form will ask you to copy the recruitment description from the umbrella ethics file named SONApsych-description.txt.
  • Approval usually takes a few days. Once approved, you can put up timeslots.
  • Use a timeslot date in the next few days when you create timeslots, so participants do not wait until the last minute.
  • If you are doing face-to-face testing, book the Brennan MacCallum 448 lab room before putting up slots using the School of Psychology Resource Booker. The room can hold up to 10 participants at a time.
SONA → SONA Handbook → Approval form → Book lab room →
04

Test thoroughly

Run the study yourself before going live and make sure the redirects and data save correctly.

Run through the study yourself using test parameters. Verify data saves in MetaForge and redirects work correctly at the end. Add test IDs to your URL to simulate real participants.

05

Preregister

Register the study before data collection starts.

Preregister before collecting any data. Use AsPredicted for most studies.

06

Go live & monitor

Launch, watch incoming data, and keep the study open only as long as needed.

Launch on SONA (add slots) or Prolific (publish). Monitor incoming data on your MetaForge dashboard and download in MetaForge (or via the R API) when complete.

Ethics & Compliance

Ethics protocols

All research must sit under an approved ethics protocol. Contact Kit early — don't start collecting until this is sorted.

Umbrella ethics

The lab runs under an umbrella ethics protocol covering most standard studies. Access the protocol documents via the lab's GitHub Enterprise repo.

Ethics repo →

Getting added to a protocol

Honours students must apply manually via myResearch Ethics before being added. Contact Kit with your unikey and he'll add you to the relevant protocol.

myResearch Ethics →

SONA approval

Every SONA study requires school approval. Submit the request form before going live — copy ethics descriptions directly from the ethics documents on GitHub.

Request approval →

Preregistration

Preregister all studies before data collection. Use AsPredicted for most work. Store preregistration documents in your project's experiments/design/preregistration/ folder.

AsPredicted →
Lab calendar

Meetings & schedule

Regular touchpoints to keep everyone aligned. Face-to-face is always preferred.

Weekly

One-on-one with Kit

Weekly meetings with your supervisor. Bring updates, questions, and anything you're stuck on.

Regular

Group lab meeting

Whole-lab meeting for presentations, paper discussions, and general updates. Check the schedule for dates.

Multi-lab

SLAC — Cognition

Broader cognition meeting across labs. Great for getting feedback on work and seeing what others are doing.

Multi-lab

REAL — Emotion

Broader emotion research meeting. Especially relevant for affective metacognition work.

As needed

Lab testing space

Book the in-person testing space via LabArchives Scheduler. Check school intranet for room booking guidelines.

Ongoing

Full schedule

See the lab meetings page for specific dates, times, and Zoom links for all regular meetings.

View schedule →
Templates & structure

Project folder structure

All lab projects follow this structure. Use the R package to scaffold it automatically.

Project_Name/ ├── README.md # Overview ├── .gitignore ├── experiments/ │ └── example-experiment/ │ ├── design/ # Protocols │ ├── stimuli/ # Images, sounds │ ├── preregistration/ │ ├── scripts/ # jsPsych etc. │ ├── data/ │ │ ├── raw/ # Untouched │ │ ├── processed/ # Cleaned │ │ └── metadata/ │ └── analysis/ │ ├── scripts/ # R / Python │ ├── results/ # Figures, tables │ └── analysis_plan.Rmd ├── manuscripts/ └── presentations/

Scaffold with R

Use the lab R package function to generate this entire structure automatically:

MetaLab::create_MetaLab_project( "MyProject", "MyExperiment", "~/Documents" )