e-Babylab: An open-source browser-based tool for unmoderated online developmental studies

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic massively changed the context and feasibility of developmental research. This new reality, as well as considerations about sample diversity and naturalistic settings for developmental research, highlights the need for solutions for online studies. In this article, we present e-Babylab, an open-source browser-based tool for unmoderated online studies targeted for young children and babies. e-Babylab offers an intuitive graphical user interface for study creation and management of studies, users, participant data, and stimulus material, with no programming skills required. Various kinds of audiovisual media can be presented as stimuli, and possible measures include webcam recordings, audio recordings, key presses, mouse-click/touch coordinates, and reaction times. An additional feature of e-Babylab is the possibility to administer short adaptive versions of MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (Chai et al. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63, 3488-3500, 2020). Information pages, consent forms, and participant forms are customizable. e-Babylab has been used with a variety of measures and paradigms in over 12 studies with children aged 12 months to 8 years (n = 1516). We briefly summarize some results of these studies to demonstrate that data quality, participant engagement, and overall results are comparable between laboratory and online settings. Finally, we discuss helpful tips for using e-Babylab and present plans for upgrades.