The challenge of representative design in psychology and economics

Robin Hogarth ()

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Abstract: The demands of representative design, as formulated by Egon Brunswik (1956), set a high methodological standard. Both experimental participants and the situations with which they are faced should be representative of the populations to which researchers claim to generalize results. Failure to observe the latter has led to notable experimental failures in psychology from which economics could learn. It also raises questions about the meaning of testing economic theories in “abstract” environments. Logically, abstract tests can only be generalized to “abstract realities” and these may or may not have anything to do with the “empirical realities” experienced by economic actors.

Keywords: Experiments; representative design; sampling; Leex (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-05, Revised 2005-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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Journal Article: The challenge of representative design in psychology and economics (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upf:upfgen:751

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