U of R business lab lets students expand research
The University of Regina hopes state-of-the-art technology will help to raise the profile of the university when it comes to business research.
On Friday, the U of R hosted an open house for its $400,000 Laboratory for Behavioural Business Research.
Located on the fifth floor of the Education Building, the 1,100-square-foot lab has space to conduct focus groups, experiments and computer simulations.
“I think we just moved our research activity a significant notch forward in comparison to research in other schools of business across Canada ,” said Andrew G au des, U of R dean of the Hill and Levine Schools of Business.
“What we are doing is demonstrating the behaviour research that is going on in our faculty as being a significant contributor to advancing knowledge in behavioural studies. This is going to help facilitate that as well as encourage students to participate in research at the undergraduate level, which will demystify and bring more student interest around research.”
It took the U of Ra couple years to get the funding for the research lab and to equip it, but Gaudes said the vision for the lab has always been clear.
“Now we get to see it in action, in real time and in a real place,” said Gaudes.
Part of the new technology includes a set of mobile tracking devices that resemble a pair of clear sunglasses, that records what a person is looking at.
“It is a good way of documenting what people are looking at in an esthetic environment or when it comes to information that is being presented to them,” said Gaudes. “It could be a store, a hospitality environment, or a night club or casino. It could be looking at art on a wall — what you are looking at first. It allows you to understand first impressions and what people see first, what they see second and tertiary and where they go at the end of their gaze.”
The information can then be analyzed and documented according to what research progress is taking place.
Gaudes said the lab is great for students because it helps them see research take place.
“They also have the opportunity to create the research questions and have it carried forward,” he said.
“Access to advanced technology that this lab will offer is not very common for business students, particularly undergrad students, so we hope it will create a whole new level of interest and scholarly activity.”
Lisa Watson, associate professor at the U of R school of business, said it’s exciting to have the lab finally open.
The lab is also open for community use, but all research will be overseen by someone from the School of Business.
“We have some researchers that do work in team dynamics and organizational behaviour to make people’s work places and how they work together a more pleasant experience,” said Watson. “We have people who work in not-for-profit and social marketing and our job is to help people make better choices, so some of us work in the area of problem gambling.”
She said everyone is anxious to start putting the lab to work.