Experiments: why, how, and a user's guide for producers as well as consumers

Muriel Niederle

Chapter 1 in Handbook of Experimental Methods in the Social Sciences, 2026, pp 2-80 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter is intended as an introduction to laboratory experiments, when to use, how to evaluate them, why they matter, and what are the pitfalls when designing them. I hope that users as well as consumers will find Sections that broaden their views. I start with when an economist might want to run an experiment. I then discuss basic lessons when designing experiments. I introduce a language to start a systematic description of the tools we have when designing experiments to show the importance or role of a new model or force in explaining behavior. The penultimate chapter provides an advanced toolkit for running experiments. I end this chapter with my views on pre-registration, pre-analysis plans and the need for replications, robustness tests and extensions.

Keywords: Lab Experiments; Experimental Methodology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035312627
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