himankpathak / lab.js

Create, run and share experiments in your browser

Get started · Open the builder · Learn more · Contribute

lab.js is a tool for constructing browser-based studies built for (but not limited to) the social and cognitive sciences. Studies can be assembled using a graphical builder, or through code. In either case, lab.js takes care of study presentation, response collection and data storage, while providing the greatest possible flexibility with regard to study design.

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Get started

The graphical builder interface is the easiest way to create studies, and the best place to start. The tutorial will walk you through building your first study, step by step.

If you prefer working directly with code, you can build studies using the JavaScript library. Everything you need is bundled in the starter kit, which is provided with every release. There is also a tutorial to help you get started.

If you get stuck or things don't make sense, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Find help

The easiest and quickest way to find help is to join our Slack channel, where there's someone around to discuss things and help out most of the time. You're welcome to just join and say hello!

Keep up-to-date

If you'd like to keep in the loop regarding the development, please subscribe to our newsletter to receive very occasional updates and release notifications.

Help improve lab.js!

We would love to have you as part of this project! We warmly welcome ideas and suggestions, bug reports and code contributions — please also let us know if you'd like to join in but are unsure how, we'd be glad to help you find something that suits your interests and resources. The contributor's guide also provides further information.

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Contributors

(in alphabetical order)

Code / documentation

Felix Henninger · Ulf K. Mertens · Yury Shevchenko

Ideas, feedback and examples

Jeffrey Fisher · Robert Gaschler · Benjamin E. Hilbig · Andrew White

The students and teaching assistants in the graduate course Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Koblenz-Landau inspire the continued development of this software, have provided countless valuable insights, and sparked many of the ideas embodied in this project through questions and discussions.

Sponsors and supporters

We are wholeheartedly grateful to our generous sponsors for making possible the development of this tool:

FernUniversität in Hagen · GESS, University of Mannheim · Rational Altruists Mannheim · University of Koblenz-Landau

If you would like to support development as a scientific institution, the easiest way is to host a workshop. We'll gladly show you and your colleagues how to build experiments using this software, and build your favorite paradigm together! We are also open to consulting if you are looking for a particular feature — please don't hesitate to get in touch so that we can discuss things in more detail.

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Citation

We kindly request that you cite lab.js if you use it in your research. Here's how:

Henninger, F., Mertens, U. K., Shevchenko, Y., & Hilbig, B. E. (2017). lab.js: Browser-based behavioral research (version 2017.1.0). doi: 10.5281/zenodo.495220

(BibTeX record)

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License

The two parts of this project are licensed individually:

• The lab.js core library that is included in your studies is made available under the terms of the Apache License.
• The builder, the graphical interface used to build experiments, is provided under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License.

The studies you build based on the library, and those you create using the builder, are always your own, and you are free to distribute them as you see fit. When studies include the core library files, these files alone are governed by the aforementioned license.