Experimental field research - The basics of experimental field research

3 important questions on Experimental field research - The basics of experimental field research

How do field experiments differ from lab experiments?

Field experiments are carried out in the everyday, real-life environment of the participants. As in lab experiments the researcher manipulates the independent variable but the:
  • Setting
  • participants
  • manipulations / treatments
  • outcome measures
are all authentic

What are the characteristics of a field experiment?

  • Randomized experiment in a real-word setting
  • Results are generalizable to real-world behavior
  • Participant are unaware taht they are taking part in a study and are unaware of the different manipulations
  • Often requires to work together with an organization
  • Tranditional (offline) field experiments v.s. Large-scale (online) field experiments

When to use field experiments?

  • When the number of independent (and moderator) variables is limited and when they can be manipulated
  • When it is important to measure real-world behaviro in real-world situations (high external validity is curcial)
  • When you want to capture second-order and long-term effects of your manipulations

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