Handbook of Field Experiments

1st Edition, Volume 1 - March 21, 2017
Editors: Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee
Language: English
Hardback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 4 - 6 3 3 2 4 - 8
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 4 - 6 3 3 2 5 - 5

Handbook of Field Experiments provides tactics on how to conduct experimental research, also presenting a comprehensive catalog on new results from research and areas that rema… Read more

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Handbook of Field Experiments provides tactics on how to conduct experimental research, also presenting a comprehensive catalog on new results from research and areas that remain to be explored. This updated addition to the series includes an entire chapters on field experiments, the politics and practice of social experiments, the methodology and practice of RCTs, and the econometrics of randomized experiments. These topics apply to a wide variety of fields, from politics, to education, and firm productivity, providing readers with a resource that sheds light on timely issues, such as robustness and external validity.

Separating itself from circumscribed debates of specialists, this volume surpasses in usefulness the many journal articles and narrowly-defined books written by practitioners.

Chapter 1. An Introduction to the "Handbook of Field Experiments"
A. Banerjee, E. Duflo

1. The Impact on the Way We Do Research
2. The Impact on the Way We Think About the World
3. Conclusion

Section I. Some Historical Background

Chapter 2. The Politics and Practice of Social Experiments: Seeds of a Revolution
J.M. Gueron

1. Why Focus on Welfare?
2. Why Experiment?
3. The Story
4. Major Challenges
5. Demonstrating Feasibility: The National Supported Work Demonstration
6. Social Experiments Reincarnated as a Partnership: Testing Feasibility Anew by Evaluating State Initiatives
7. Using Randomized Controlled Trials to Test Full-Scale Programs: The Fight Got Tougher
8. What Works Best? A Multiarm Test of Labor Force Attachment versus Human Capital Development
9. The Momentum Shifts
10. Useful and Used
11. Lessons and Challenges

Section II. Methodology and Practice of RCTs

Chapter 3. The Econometrics of Randomized Experiments
S. Athey and G.W. Imbens

1. Introduction
2. Randomized Experiments and Validity
3. The Potential Outcome/Rubin Causal Model Framework for Causal Inference
4. The Analysis of Completely Randomized Experiments
5. Randomization Inference and Regression Estimators
6. The Analysis of Stratified and Paired Randomized Experiments
7. The Design of Randomized Experiments and the Benefits of Stratification
8. The Analysis of Clustered Randomized Experiments
9. Noncompliance in Randomized Experiments
10. Heterogenous Treatment Effects and Pretreatment Variables
11. Experiments in Settings With Interactions
12. Conclusion

Chapter 4. Decision Theoretic Approaches to Experiment Design and External Validity
A. Banerjee, S. Chassang, E. Snowberg

1. Introduction
2. The Framework
3. Perspectives on Experimental Design
4. Rerandomization, Registration, and Preanalysis
5. External Validity
6. Structured Speculation
7. Issues of Particular Interest
8. Conclusion

Chapter 5. The Practicalities of Running Randomized Evaluations: Partnerships, Measurement, Ethics, and Transparency
R. Glennerster

1. Collaboration Between Researchers and Implementers
2. Preparing for Practical Pitfalls in Field Experiments
3. Ethics
4. Transparency of Research
5. Conclusion

Chapter 6. The Psychology of Construal in the Design of Field Experiments
E.L. Paluck and E. Shafir

1. Introduction
2. Pilot: Seek Shared Construal of Behavior and the Situation Between Investigators and Participants
3. Design: Ensure the Intervention Design, Measurement, and Deployment Achieve Shared Construal Between Investigators and Participants
4. Interpret: How Do Investigators Construe What Matters in the Data?
5. Concluding Thoughts

Section III. Understanding Preferences and Preference Change

Chapter 7. Field Experiments in Markets
O. Al-Ubaydli and J.A. List

1. Introduction
2. Preamble
3. Main Results
4. Methodological Insights
5. Closing Remarks

Chapter 8. Field Experiments on Discrimination
M. Bertrand and E. Duflo

1. Introduction
2. Measuring Discrimination in the Field
3. Consequences of Discrimination
4. What Affects Discrimination?
5. Conclusion

Chapter 9. Field Experiments on Voter Mobilization: An Overview of a Burgeoning Literature
A.S. Gerber and D.P. Green

1. Intellectual Context for Emergence of Field Experiments in Political Science
2. How Do Experiments Address the Problems in the Prior Voter Turnout Research?
3. An Overview of the Experimental Literature on Voter Mobilization
4. The Effect of Messaging

Chapter 10. Lab in the Field: Measuring Preferences in the Wild
U. Gneezy and A. Imas

1. Theoretically-Relevant Populations
2. Using Lab-in-the Field for Collecting Covariates as Complements to RCTs and for Targeting Policy
3. Comparing Between Contexts and Cultures
4. External Validity
5. Conclusion

Chapter 11. Field Experiments in Marketing
D. Simester

1. Papers that Report Field Experiments
2. Pricing Topics
3. Advertising Topics
4. Product-Related Topics
5. Model Validation
6. Other Topics
7. Designing Experiments and Future Topics
8. Conclusions
Appendix: Summary of the Papers

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Handbook of Field Experiments

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Esther Duflo

Abhijit Banerjee