To carry out world-class research we need dedicated participants who are paid to take part in our experiments.This is a fun way to get involved in our research and make some money at the same time.

Join our participant database

Anyone over the age of 18 can sign up to become a paid participant in the LSE Behavioural Lab for Teaching and Research. 

We usually pay participants £5 for up to 30 minutes and £10 for up to an hour to participate in a research study. This will usually be paid in cash or online voucher upon the completion of your session. For some studies there might even be an extra incentive or prize draw in addition to your payment.

The exact nature of each study we run will change depending on the particular researcher and their field of interest. Studies could focus on a variety of topics including economics, marketing, the environment, healthcare and organisational behaviour. We'll tell you a little about what you'll be expected to do when we advertise the study. We're open year-round including summer, so we'll have lots of studies available for you to take part in.

Sign up now

To sign up, please create an account in Sona, our participant database. 

After you sign up, you will need to agree to our Participant Code of Conduct (PDF) and complete a short prescreening questionnaire before you will start receiving email invitations.

What happens next

Once you have created an account in Sona, you can start taking part in our studies:

• Please read and agree to our Participant Code of Conduct (PDF)  and complete a short prescreening questionnaire.
• Email invitations. Once you have agreed to our Participant Code of Conduct and completed the prescreening questionnaire, you’ll be notified when we are recruiting for a new study via email. The email will give you an idea of the date range, duration and payment of the study, as well as a link to sign up. 
• Sign up for a study. Visit Sona and select a timeslot for a study that fits your schedule.
• If you need to cancel before your timeslot, please either do this through Sona or contact us at bl@lse.ac.uk to let us know as soon as possible. This gives us enough time to find another participant.
• You will receive a reminder email the day before your slot. Please remember to take note of the ID code number on the email as you will need this for your study.
• Attend the study timeslot. Please arrive at least five minutes before the start of the study. As well as needing time to find the lab (which may be difficult on your first visit) or set up the online study, you may be part of a large participant group which will all need time to sign in on arrival. Researchers have the right to turn you away without payment if you are not available at the time the study begins.
• Give your ID code to the researcher so they can mark your attendance.
• Participate in the study. The researchers will give you a brief explanation of what you will be doing and then lead you into the lab to begin the study. Please be quiet during the study if this is required (for example, when using computers) and please take care of the lab equipment. This should only be used as instructed, and please report any equipment problems or damage to the BL staff. If you have any questions once the study is running, please see the researcher or research assistant who should be located nearby.
• Collect your payment. After your participation is complete, collect your payment from the researcher or research assistant. You will need to sign a receipt sheet to confirm that you received the payment. The information given will not be linked to your responses in the study.
• Learn about the study. Some researchers may provide you with a debriefing form that outlines the purpose of the study. Please feel free to review this and contact the researcher if you have any further questions. However, do not share the details with other participants and this could impact the researchers’ study.
  
  If you have any questions which aren't answered here, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.