What ages do you study?
What are the studies about?
How can I sign up?
How can I update my family’s information in the database?
How can I remove my family’s information from the database?
How will you protect my privacy?
Where are you located?
Will I be able to find a parking spot?
What are the studies like?
Will you be able to tell me whether or not my child is “on track”?
How will findings from the research be used?

Contact us!

What ages do you study?

We study infants and children from birth to adulthood. There are lots of different studies running at any given time, each designed with a particular age group in mind, depending on what research question we’re trying to answer. If you sign up to be part of the Team Duckling database, we will contact you when your child is the right age for one of our studies. The researcher who contacts you can tell you about the details for that particular study, and you can decide whether or not you would like your child to participate.

What are the studies about?

We explore many different topics, such as social development, learning, creativity, emotional development, music, friendships, and decision-making. Our studies are designed to be interesting and engaging, and are often disguised as games. Participating in a study is a neat way for older kids and teens to get an inside look at how research works, and infants and kids just love all the attention. In addition, findings from labs like ours inform important decisions made by educators and policy-makers all over the world, so participating in research is a great way for families to “give back” to the community.

I want to sign up! What now?

You can sign up to be added to the Team Ducklings database online here, or call 541-346-1987 to sign up over the phone.

When your child is the right age for one of our studies, the specific lab running that study will get in touch with you by phone or email. The researcher who contacts you will be able to tell you a bit about the study, and you can decide whether or not you want to participate. Signing up to be a part of the database does not commit you to participate in any studies – it’s just a way for you to let us know that you would like to be contacted about potential research opportunities at our labs. It’s always okay to decide not to participate in any study.

How can I update my family’s information in the database?

Thanks for keeping us up to date! Making sure we have accurate information means we’ll be able to get in touch with you to let you know when we’ve got a new study available for your family. To update your contact information, or to add a new child, you can use our online sign up form, or give us a call at 541-346-1987.

How can I have my family’s information removed from the database?

You can choose to have your information removed from the Team Duckling database at any time, for any reason. If you decide you don’t want to be contacted about any of our studies anymore, just let us know by calling 541-346-1987 or emailing our Team Duckling Coordinator (Jenny Mendoza, teamduckling@uoregon.edu), and we’ll be happy to remove you from the database.

Will my contact information be shared? How do you protect my privacy?

When you sign up for the Team Duckling database, only the labs specifically approved for the database will have access to your family’s contact information. Every researcher that will have access to families’ contact information must first undergo a confidentiality training session. We never, ever share your information with any third parties.

Where are you located?

Each lab has its own research space on campus. Most of us are in Straub Hall (map), in the heart of campus.

Will I be able to find a parking spot on campus?

Yes! We have reserved parking spots for families participating in research, so parking is a breeze. If you decide to participate in one of our studies, the researcher running your study will be able to provide a free temporary parking pass for one of the reserved spots right in front of our building.

What are the studies like? How long does a study take? Is there any compensation?

We study lots of things! The details for each of our studies are quite different depending on research topic, the age group being studied, etc. When one of our labs has a study ready that your child is the right age for, that lab will contact you to let you know. The researcher who gets in touch with you will be able to let you know about the details for that particular study, and then you can decide whether or not you would like your child to participate.

If you have any questions about specific research in any of our labs, please feel free to get in touch – we love to talk about our studies! You can find contact information for each of our labs on our own websites (links to our websites are here).

I’m concerned about my child’s development. Will you be able to tell me whether or not my child is “on track”?

The type of studies we do typically do not provide useful diagnostic information about the individual children that participate in them; our studies are designed to capture group trends to tell us in general how children of a particular age are developing. In addition, as researchers, most of us do not have the appropriate training to be able to recognize or treat delays in individual children. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s development, you should talk to your pediatrician. He or she will be able to discuss your concerns with you and let you know what follow-up, if any, is appropriate to best support your child’s development.

While participating in our studies will not provide you with specific information about your child’s development, it can be a fun way to learn more about child development in general. Many parents enjoy the opportunity to talk with a researcher about our current projects and other recent findings in the field – and we always love to talk about our work! In addition, each fall we compile a newsletter highlighting findings from the studies we’ve done over the last year and publish it on our website, so families can see how their participation fits into the big picture of our research.

How will the findings from the research be used?

The results from our studies are typically published in academic journals where they are read by other researchers and educators who are interested in child development. Additionally, research findings from developmental psychology labs like ours are sometimes used to inform policy decisions concerning children’s education, health, and care. We never release or publish information about specific children; instead, we describe responses of participants as a group. Your child’s participation and responses are completely confidential.