The lab is you

When you are working on lab-related things, everything you make and do, every word you write, and every interaction you have is representing the lab. When a research assistant sends an email to a participant, that research assistant is the lab. When a postdoc shares their knowledge with another lab on campus, that postdoc is the lab.

This is what we mean when we say “The lab is you”. When participants and colleagues think of our lab, they’ll think of the impression you, the individuals working here, made on them.

Knowing this, we hope you will take the time to do things right, to consider whether what you are saying is true and kind, and to think about how you would feel if you were on the other end of the interactions you have with others.

Email and voicemail etiquette

We want to communicate with our participants and colleagues in a friendly, empathetic, and professional way. For email and voicemail, this means you should:

  • Use a clear subject line: Be specific. “Confirming Joan’s Nov 28 2018 appointment at the Child Language Lab” is much better than “Confirming your appointment”
  • Use friendly, professional salutations: “Hi Carol” or “Hello Carol” are perfect; “Hey Carol” or “Carol” are too informal.
  • Include a personal signature: Sign your name at the end of communications. Ending with “Thanks, Katie” is much better than “Sincerely, The Researchers”.
  • Be clear, direct, and concise

Apologizing

Sometimes things happen and someone is unhappy with you. Maybe a participant is having trouble finding the lab; maybe you were late finishing a task for a lab-mate; or maybe you accidentally scheduled a participant for the wrong day.

When this happens, you should apologize sincerely, in the same way you’d want to be apologized to. What does this mean? Think about what would happen if you bumped into someone and spilled hot coffee on them. You wouldn’t say “I do apologize for the inconvenience”, you would say “I’m so sorry!” and you would be eager to make things up to them.

You shouldn’t make excuses or use overly formal language to mask the fact that you made a mistake. Simply own up to it, take full responsibility, and offer a sincere and frank apology.

Producing quality content

At some point, everyone in the lab will produce public content of some kind: recruitment emails to participants, website content, wiki content, etc.

Please take the time to do a good job, and ensure that the work you produce is not sloppy or unprofessional. Remember, the lab is you!

Example of a poorly written email

Below is an example of an email that has lots of room for improvement. There are four specific things this email does wrong:

  1. “COPY INTO SUBJECT LINE” - the sender has been sloppy and accidentally left in a line from an email template. This makes it seem like we aren’t careful and don’t care.
  2. “We” feels much less personal than “I”
  3. “Sincerely, The Child Language…” - the salutation is not personal.
  4. It is too long and wordy

COPY INTO SUBJECT LINE:

Hello Rebecca,

We are from the Child Language and Learning Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. We are conducting a study looking at how children can learn grammatical patterns in an artificial language, and we would like to know if you and Erin would be interested in participating.

The session itself is a one-time appointment and will take approximately 20-30 minutes, but we ask parents to budget for an hour to account for explanations of the study, getting to the lab, et cetera.

To investigate how patterns and languages are learned, we have created small patterns and pretend languages that can be learned in short periods of time. These patterns and languages consist of elements that are appropriate for children, such as friendly puppets; pictures of animals, shapes, and toys; and made-up words that are easy for children to pronounce. We teach children these patterns using computer or iPad games they are often familiar with (e.g. matching, puzzles, and memory games) in order to make this experience both fun and educational for them.

If you are interested in participating, we have attached a scheduling link for your convenience where you would be able to choose a time that works best for your schedule. You can always call our office if you would like to make an appointment over the phone as well. If you would like to learn more about our lab, our staff, and the research we conduct, please visit our lab’s website: http://web.sas.upenn.edu/cl3/.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or would like to be removed from our contact list, please do not hesitate to call our office at (215) 746-1293 or email our lab at childlanglab@sas.upenn.edu. We look forward to hearing you soon!

Scheduling link: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=15052394&appointmentType=5460488

Sincerely,

The Child Language and Learning Lab


Much better

The email below is much better because:

  1. It is short and to the point
  2. It uses “I” instead of “we”, so the request is coming from a real person
  3. There is a personal signature
  4. There are no typos or “form email” mistakes
  5. It reminds the recipient how we got their contact information
  6. It starts off with a friendly greeting.

Hi Rebecca,

I hope your new year is off to a good start. :)

I’m a researcher at the Child Language Lab, part of a group of child development labs at the University of Pennsylvania.

Your name is on our list of parents (and kids!) who are interested in participating in research studies. I’m writing because I have a new study that Coal is just the right age for.

In the study, kids play a short computer game to learn a new language. After the game, I find out what they’ve learned by asking them to describe some pictures in the new language. The study takes place at our lab at Penn and families typically spend about an hour getting to know us and participating in the study.

Are you and Coal interested in participating?

If so, you can schedule an appointment with me at https://calendly.com/childlanglab/katie. Or, if you’d like to learn more about it first, you can visit our website or give me a call at 267-469-0648. I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for considering it,
Katie