Why Can’t a Student Be More Like an Average Person?: Sampling and Attrition Effects in Social Science Field and Laboratory Experiments

Marc Hooghe, Dietlind Stolle, Valérie-Anne Mahéo and Sara Vissers
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Marc Hooghe: Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium)
Dietlind Stolle: McGill University (Montreal, Canada)
Valérie-Anne Mahéo: McGill University (Montreal, Canada)
Sara Vissers: Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium)

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2010, vol. 628, issue 1, 85-96

Abstract: In the social sciences, the use of experimental research has expanded greatly in recent years. For various reasons, most experiments rely on convenience samples of undergraduate university students. This practice, however, might endanger the validity of experimental findings, as we can assume that students will react differently to experimental conditions than the general population. We therefore urge experimental researchers to broaden their pool of participants, despite the obvious practical difficulties this might entail with regard to recruitment and motivation of the participants. We report on an experiment comparing the reactions of student and non-student participants, showing clear and significant differences. A related problem is that differential attrition rates might endanger the effects found in long-term research. We argue that experimental researchers should pay more attention to the characteristics of participants in their experimental design.

Keywords: experimental research; participants; students; attrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:628:y:2010:i:1:p:85-96

DOI: 10.1177/0002716209351516

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