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7 Cups Center for Open Research & Impact (CORI)

Are you a researcher interested in increasing the impact of your work?

Are you interested in designing innovations for mental and behavioural health?

Are you curious about how your work can scale to impact others?

Welcome to 7 Cups! Here at 7 Cups, we want to speed up the process of research and innovation development in behavioural and mental health. We are delighted you are interested in joining our research community.

Innovation follows a simple formula:

Talent + Luck x # Experiments = Innovation

How to Increase Innovation

The Company Model

Has
Data
People
Needs
Engineers
Scientists

Companies focus on revenue to survive. Innovation cannot be the primary focus. Hiring scientists and specialized engineers can be very costly, which in turn drives even more focus on revenue and less focus on innovation.

The University Lab Model

Needs
Data
People
Has
Engineers
Scientists

Scientists in the lab need to focus on research for career purposes. Scientists need users and data for publications. Getting a steady stream of people/users and data can be time-consuming, challenging, and costly.

A partnership between 7 Cups & University Labs creates an Integrated Model

The Integrated Model

Data
People
Engineers
Scientists

In the integrated model, the company has what the lab needs and the lab has what the company needs. If they integrate resources, then they both get what they need and can innovate more cost-effectively as aligned partners.

Each Integrated Model Partnership Exponentially Increases Units of Innovation

  • University Team A
    (Talent)

    +

    Luck

    x

    10 Experiments

    =

    1 Unit of
    Innovation
  • University Team B
    (Talent)

    +

    Luck

    x

    10 Experiments

    =

    1 Unit of
    Innovation
  • University Team C
    (Talent)

    +

    Luck

    x

    10 Experiments

    =

    1 Unit of
    Innovation
  • University Team D
    (Talent)

    +

    Luck

    x

    10 Experiments

    =

    1 Unit of
    Innovation
  • University Team E
    (Talent)

    +

    Luck

    x

    10 Experiments

    =

    1 Unit of
    Innovation

Research in the 7 Cups Ecosystem

What we are doing is an experiment of the integrated model. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the 7 Cups community seeking and giving help, but we do not have scientists keeping up with the latest research on behavioral and mental health. As a researcher on 7 Cups, you will play an important role in helping us scale research and make an impact. Learn more about 7 Cups as an ecosystem in the video below. We also work closely with the Center for Open Science. Watch this video below to learn more about their work.

Additionally, our platform helps address a couple of key challenges in the broader research community. The first is the file drawer problem. All studies, significant and nonsignificant, will be tracked and saved for others to review. The second is replication. If one researcher finds significant results, then a second researcher can clone their study to easily replicate their results. A third is inclusivity. Many more researchers around the world will be able to conduct research on 7 Cups because it is open and there are no cost barriers.

Research Partners

Carnegie Melon University Georgia Tech The Univeristy of Scranton
University of Roehampton, London Center For Open Science University of Haifa

How to Get Started

  1. Create a listener account with your institution email and complete listener training to activate your account.
  2. Send an email requesting inclusion to research@7cups.com from your institution address.
  3. Accept our invitation to the "Research Team" slack channel and introduce yourself.
  4. Build a new Growth Path consisting of at least 10 steps. A growth path is like a treatment plan or protocol that consists of steps that can include text, video, or exercises. Users take growth paths on the web and mobile app. Request the addition of pre and post measures or use the ones currently available.
  5. Download archival data on your path to learn how we can better scale outcomes and help more people.
  6. Publish any interesting findings in an open access journal.

FAQ

What does a growth path step consist of?
It is a small step or exercise that a person takes on a growth path. Think of this as a step or exercise in a protocol or treatment plan. It can be taken on the app or on the Web. A step can be composed of text, video, images or any combination of the 3.
What is a growth path?
A growth path is a series of growth path steps that address a particular area. For example, a growth path to help people overcome worry might consist of growth path steps on progressive muscle relaxation, thought stopping, or other cognitive-behavioral exercises. A growth path can be thought of as a digital treatment plan or protocol.
What outcome measures are currently available?
PHQ 2, PHQ 9, GAD 2, GAD 7; if you have other measures you would like us to add then send a request to support@7cups.com and we will add it if we can.
What data is available to me as a researcher?
User attributes, pre and post measure results, growth path steps taken, growth paths taken
Is the data anonymous and aggregate?
Yes
Does 7 Cups charge for access to growth paths I build and research?
No. All growth paths created on 7 Cups for research will always be free and accessible to all.
How does 7 Cups support Open Science objectives?
All research on 7 Cups growth paths is default open. Any approved researcher can have access to growth path data on 7 Cups. Other researchers can see what growth paths resulted in nonsignificant results and what growth paths resulted in significant results. Significant studies can easily be replicated by cloning the path and the study.
Does 7 Cups follow FAIR principles?
Yes
How does this approach help publication bias or the file drawer problem?
All studies - significant and nonsignificant - are tracked and saved.
How do we see research efforts evolving?
We consulted with experts to figure out the best way to build a robust, collaborative, interdisciplinary team of researchers to help scale behavioral health research. There are several important factors to consider. The first is the complex nature of research. The skills required, getting familiar with the data, and learning about 7 Cups takes time. We do not want to rush the process. Second, research is often most effective when it is done in a collaborative manner that builds on other efforts already underway. There were concerns about duplicative work and unnecessary competition. To help address these concerns, we are starting with a team of researchers from 5 universities to build out the core Level I team. This team will set the initial culture and define the early studies. Level II researchers will then be invited in and will follow a similar collaborative process to help move the entirety of the research forward.
What is the goal for new research?
Research on 7 Cups is still taking shape. The goal is to be able to plug interested researchers in so that they can publish and make contributions. We need to first set the culture, build the systems, and document the processes. The hope is that this foundational work will make it very easy to onboard new researchers in the future.