Mission Statement

We will make online methods of behavioral research widely available to researchers and engage people all over the world in behavioral science

1) Making methods available

The explosion of new tools for collecting data online are expanding the horizon of social and behavioral research, from multi-person experiments and mobile eye tracking to incorporating social media and artificial intelligence. However, these tools are often built for a specific study or for a specific lab. They are not easy to reproduce, replicate, or adapt for new research. Volunteer Science will provide a stable platform for standardizing, maintaining, and sharing these methods.

2) Engaging people all over the world in science

The vast majority of behavioral science is based on studies done with undergraduate students at Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) countries. Today, our ability to run experiments online means that anyone in the world with an internet connection can participate in a study. So far, we have run 1,000 experiments with over 600,000 participants in more than 160 countries.