ECO331H1 Lecture 2: Week 2 Experiment Nuts and Bolts Gazzale, Jacobson, Linardi
Document Summary
Week 2: experiment nuts and bolts; gazzale, jacobson, January 15, 2019: goal: collect advice/ideas about practical elements to bear in mind when designing/running human subject experiment ment. What is experiment: in well-designed experiment, control and randomization used to claim x causes y. In classic case, create environment a and b that only differ in x: paper assumes researcher knows x and y and how to create environments a and b. Subject pool: external validity: confidence in extrapolating findings to other environments of interest, are you trying to understand specific group or more general human behavior, often use students as sample of convenience. Primary benefit is control: pull people out of ordinary life to present with choices in any kind of scenario, vary elements as desired. Can access wider population through online experiment. Bring experiment to where population of interest is. Choices observed are actual choices subjects make in daily life. Downside is loss of control compared to lab.
