Within the last decade, numerous online populations, such as SurveyMonkeyH and Amazon's Mechanical TurkH (MTurk), have been established allowing researchers to gather data involving diverse populations. These resources offer an alternative to traditional laboratory settings hosted at universities, where many studies utilize students as the available and accessible population. While these online portals do provide new opportunities, they also contain unique advantages and disadvantages. This paper synthesizes the advantages and disadvantages of using online populations to conduct research in the aviation field. Some of the advantages are: easier access to new populations, larger sample sizes, more balanced ratio of genders, lower cost, more timely data collection, reliable data, and anonymity of participants. Some of the disadvantages are: unrepresentative samples, lower response rates, financial motivation issues, limited access to certain portals, limited length of study, non-behavioral data, and lack of follow-up data. In addition, the authors share their personal experiences of using these portals and summarize previous literature researching online populations.

Background. Modern organizations are increasingly reliant on teams, and many organizations are subsequently concerned with the development of interventions that can improve the performance of teams. Escape rooms are beginning to receive attention as a potential avenue to facilitate team-based research. Escape rooms are team-based recreational activities that require a team of individuals to work together and think critically in order to solve a series of puzzles or challenges to escape a room. Purpose. This article provides considerations for researchers and organizations alike concerning the development of an escape room for team-based research, its methodological applications, and challenges associated with the use of escape rooms in research. Developmental considerations include issues such as an escape room’s location and size, financial considerations, theme development, other characteristics of the escape room, the development of puzzles and challenges, prototyping efforts, and the development of hints. Conclusion. Research considerations include the use of observational and survey methods in data collection, measurement of team processes and team performance, and how elements of an escape room influence teamwork and problem solving. Various challenges associated with the use of escape rooms in team-based research include considerations for dealing with cheating behavior, providing hints to participants, and resetting the room between experimental trials.

Gamification is the concept of applying game mechanics to non-game activities (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011). This concept has received a lot of recent interest from industry and many examples have emerged, especially within the fields of business and marketing, but has grown to encompass such varied examples as health care, training, prosocial behavior, and law enforcement. The purpose of this panel is to discuss some current research and applications of the gamification concept from a varied set of perspectives. The first panelist will describe lessons learned from research on gamification. The second panelist will describe gamification within an industrial context. The third panelist will discuss gamification concepts applied to education. A discussion among panelists and attendees of future trends and needs for gamification is expected.

The demand for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) capabilities is rapidly increasing in the civilian sector. UAS operations, however, will not be carried out in the National Airspace System until safety concerns are alleviated. Among these concerns is determining the appropriate level of automation in conjunction with a suitable pilot who exhibits the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to safely operate these systems. This research examined two levels of automation: management by consent (MBC) and management by exception (MBE), in conjunction with pilot experiences while operating an unmanned aircraft simulator. The user experiences encompass three individual groups: pilots, air traffic controllers (ATC), and non‐pilot/non‐ATCs. Performance, workload, and situational awareness data were examined. Results show no significant differences among pilot experiences groups, automation strategies, or the interaction between these two. Limitations and design implications are discussed to help pave the way for future research. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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