Opting-In: Participation Biases in the Lab

Robert Slonim, Carmen Wang, Ellen Garbarino () and Danielle Merrett ()
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Ellen Garbarino: University of Sydney

No 6865, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Assuming individuals rationally decide whether to participate or not to participate in lab experiments, we hypothesize several non-representative biases in the characteristics of lab participants. We test the hypotheses by first collecting survey and experimental data on a typical recruitment population and then inviting them to participate in a lab experiment. The results indicate that lab participants are not representative of the target population on almost all the hypothesized characteristics, including having lower income, working fewer hours, volunteering more often, and exhibiting behaviors correlated with interest in experiments and economics. We discuss the implications and various methods for addressing non-representative biases.

Keywords: laboratory experiments; participation bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2012-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2013, 90, 43-70

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