Lab Rat

I participated in a research study today. Like students everywhere, my finances are a wreck and the study paid $15 for less than ½ hour of work. There were no medications or medical treatments involved, though. The research study was being conducted by a Ph.D. student at Another Local University. He is studying how second and third year law students make legal decisions.

The study involved a hypothetical constitutional challenge. The claim, the evidence, the stautes involved, and the pleadings were given to you step by step, along with legislative history for the amendments at issue. As each piece of information was laid out for you, you were asked to answer questions like: “Based solely on intuition, which side do you think will prevail?”, “What are your thoughts on the relevance of Fake Case v. Made Up Evidence”, “Which piece of evidence weighed the strongest in your decision”, and “Dividing 100 points between the two parties, indicate the strength of each argument.”

It was actually kind of fun, in a sick law-school way. Like solving a puzzle. And for this, I got paid. It’s quite a racket, I tell you. The guy running the study told me that he is really struggling to get enough students to do the study. So, for those of you who are fellow inmates, I mean students, at Our Law School, take some time on Thursday to swing into Room 118 around midday, help out a hard working Ph.D student, and earn the easiest $15 you’ll ever get your hot little hands on.