Provides services and technical assistance for students so they benefit from research-based curricula taught in safe environments.

Produces and disseminates information to provide motivation and tools to enable individuals to make informed decisions about health issues.

Develops and implements education testing programs that benefit students, parents and public officals.

Works with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the government's primary source for collecting and analyzing data about public education.

Helps to provide all children with access to a quality education, and empowers people, organizations, and communities to bring about social change.

Is committed to helping clients improve the effectiveness of their workforce through a wide range of management, organizational, and business improvement efforts.

Produces, maintains and disseminates systematic reviews of the effects of social and behavioral interventions.

Cognitive Lab Testing

A key ingredient of effective personnel and organizational performance is the ability to effectively measure individual and organizational characteristics. Thus, it is critical that the measures we use are effective at capturing the type of information needed to make informed decisions. Cognitive laboratory testing provides a structured environment and set of procedures for ensuring that the measures, surveys, and procedures we use to develop personnel and organization systems work as intended.

The AIR cognitive lab in Washington, D.C. consists of a testing room where up to 12 participants interact with documents or products, or answer questions, and an observation room where up to 6 clients can observe test sessions in a non-obtrusive manner. A two-way mirror separates the two rooms. Focus group sessions, usability tests, and cognitive lab interviews can be recorded for later analysis and editing.

The testing room includes a plasma screen for displaying video and computer-generated images, two remote-control cameras, a scan converter for recording computer screen output, and both digital and standard VHS VCR’s. Microphones are unobtrusively located in the ceiling. The observation room includes video equipment to simultaneously monitor the pictures from each of the cameras and the plasma screen.

AIR’s facilities in Concord, MA contain the following equipment: remote controlled cameras, a one-way observation mirror, adequate space for focus groups and usability tests, data-logging computers, scan converters, and portable cameras. Observation rooms typically hold approximately 10 observers, and the participant space can be set up in a variety of ways. Room dimensions will vary slightly from site to site.