Social Experiments
Social Experiments

Author: Larry L. Orr

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780761912958

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Intended to provide a basic understanding not only of how to design and implement social experiments, but also of how to interpret their results once they are completed, author Larry L. Orr's Social Experiments is written in a friendly, how-to manner. Through the use of illustrative examples, how-to exhibits and cases, and boldface key words, Orr provides readers with a grounding in the experimental method, including the rational and ethical issues of random assignment; designs that best address alternative policy questions; maximizing the precision of the estimates; implementing the experiment in the field; data collection; estimating and interpreting program impacts, costs, and benefits; dealing with potential biases; and the use and misuse of experimental results in the policy process. This book will be useful not only to those who plan to conduct experiments, but also to the much larger group who will, at one time or another, want to understand the results of experimental evaluations.

Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences
Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences

Author: Murray Webster

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2007-07-03

Total Pages: 574

ISBN-13: 0080546145

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Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences is the only book providing core information for researchers about the ways and means to conduct experiments. Its comprehensive regard for laboratory experiments encompasses "how-to explanations, investigations of philosophies and ethics, explorations of experiments in specific social science disciplines, and summaries of both the history and future of social science laboratories. No other book offers such a direct avenue to enlarging our knowledge in the social sciences.This collection of original chapters combines instructions and advice about the design of laboratory experiments in the social sciences with the array of other issues. While there are books on experimental design and chapters in more general methods books on design, theory, and ethical issues, no other book attempts to discuss the fundamental ideas of the philosophy of science or lays out the methods comprehensively or in such detail. Experimentation has recently prospered because of increasing interest in cross-disciplinary syntheses, and this book of advice, guidelines, and observations underline its potential and increasing importance.· Provides a comprehensive summary of issues in social science experimentation, from ethics to design, management, and financing· Offers "how-to" explanations of the problems and challenges faced by everyone involved in social science experiments· Pays attention to both practical problems and to theoretical and philosophical arguments· Defines commonalities and distinctions within and among experimental situations across the social sciences

The Digest of Social Experiments
The Digest of Social Experiments

Author: David H. Greenberg

Publisher: The Urban Insitute

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 524

ISBN-13: 9780877667223

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"Contains brief summaries of 240 known completed social experiments. Each summary outlines the cost and time frame of the demonstration, the treatments tested, outcomes of interest, sample sizes and target population, research components, major findings, important methodological limitations and design issues encountered, and other relevant topics. In addition, very brief outlines of 21 experiments and one quasi experiment still in progress [as of April 2003] are also provided"--p. 3.

Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences
Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences

Author: Thad Dunning

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1107017661

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The first comprehensive guide to natural experiments, providing an ideal introduction for scholars and students.

Experimental Thinking
Experimental Thinking

Author: James N. Druckman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-05-12

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1108997988

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Experiments are a central methodology in the social sciences. Scholars from every discipline regularly turn to experiments. Practitioners rely on experimental evidence in evaluating social programs, policies, and institutions. This book is about how to “think” about experiments. It argues that designing a good experiment is a slow moving process (given the host of considerations) which is counter to the current fast moving temptations available in the social sciences. The book includes discussion of the place of experiments in the social science process, the assumptions underlying different types of experiments, the validity of experiments, the application of different designs, how to arrive at experimental questions, the role of replications in experimental research, and the steps involved in designing and conducting “good” experiments. The goal is to ensure social science research remains driven by important substantive questions and fully exploits the potential of experiments in a thoughtful manner.

Field Experiments and Their Critics
Field Experiments and Their Critics

Author: Dawn Langan Teele

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2014-01-28

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0300199309

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In recent years, social scientists have engaged in a deep debate over the methods appropriate to their research. Their long reliance on passive observational collection of information has been challenged by proponents of experimental methods designed to precisely infer causal effects through active intervention in the social world. Some scholars claim that field experiments represent a new gold standard and the best way forward, while others insist that these methods carry inherent inconsistencies, limitations, or ethical dilemmas that observational approaches do not. This unique collection of essays by the most influential figures on every side of this debate reveals its most important stakes and will provide useful guidance to students and scholars in many disciplines.

Ethics and Experiments
Ethics and Experiments

Author: Scott Desposato

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-12-22

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1317438663

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For most of political science's history, discussions about professional ethics had nothing to do with human subjects. Professional ethics involved integrity in the classroom, fair tenure and promotion rule, and the careful avoidance of plagiarism. As most research was observational, there was little need for attention to how scholarly activities might directly affect the subjects of our work. Times have changed. The dramatic growth in the use of experiments in social science, especially overseas, is generating unexpected ethical controversies. The purpose of this volume is to identify, debate, and propose practical solutions to the most critical of these new ethical issues. A leading team of internationally distinguished political science scholars presents the first examination of the practical and ethical challenges of research with human subjects in social science and policy studies. Part 1 examines contextual challenges provided by experiments conducted overseas - questions of culture, religion, security, and poverty. Part 2 examines questions of legal constraints on research, focusing on questions of foreign review of international experiments. Part 3 tackles the critical issues in field experiments, including deception and consent, impact on elections and careers, the boundaries of the public officials' exemption, and the use of partner organizations to avoid Institutional Review Body (IRB) review. Part 4 considers strategies for the future, including training and education, IRB reform, institutional changes, and norm development.

The Robbers Cave Experiment
The Robbers Cave Experiment

Author: Muzafer Sherif

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0819569909

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Originally issued in 1954 and updated in 1961 and 1987, this pioneering study of "small group" conflict and cooperation has long been out-of-print. It is now available, in cloth and paper, with a new introduction by Donald Campbell, and a new postscript by O.J. Harvey. In this famous experiment, one of the earliest in inter-group relationships, two dozen twelve-year-old boys in summer camp were formed into two groups, the Rattlers and the Eagles, and induced first to become militantly ethnocentric, then intensely cooperative. Friction and stereotyping were stimulated by a tug-of-war, by frustrations perceived to be caused by the "out" group, and by separation from the others. Harmony was stimulated by close contact between previously hostile groups and by the introduction of goals that neither group could meet alone. The experiment demonstrated that conflict and enmity between groups can be transformed into cooperation and vice versa and that circumstances, goals, and external manipulation can alter behavior. Some have seen the findings of the experiment as having implications for reduction of hostility among racial and ethnic groups and among nations, while recognizing the difficulty of control of larger groups.

Experiments With People
Experiments With People

Author: Kurt P. Frey

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2017-08-29

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 135158877X

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This book showcases 28 intriguing social psychological experiments that have significantly advanced our understanding of human social thinking and behavior. Each chapter focuses on the details and implications of a single study, while citing related research and real-life examples along the way. All the chapters are fully self-contained, allowing them to be read in any order without loss of coherence. This 2nd Edition contains a number of new studies and, together with its lively, conversational tone, it makes an ideal text for courses in social psychology, introductory psychology, or research design.