Is a non-representative convenience sample of adults good enough? Insights from an economic experiment

Sean F. Ellis (), Olesya M. Savchenko and Kent D. Messer ()
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Sean F. Ellis: Behavior Change for Good, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Olesya M. Savchenko: University of Florida
Kent D. Messer: University of Delaware

Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2023, vol. 9, issue 2, No 8, 293-307

Abstract: Abstract Recruitment of representative and generalizable adult samples is a major challenge for researchers conducting economic field experiments. Limited access to representative samples or the high cost of obtaining them often leads to the recruitment of non-representative convenience samples. This research compares the findings from two field experiments involving 860 adults: one from a non-representative in-person convenience sample and one from a representative online counterpart. We find no meaningful differences in the key behaviors of interest between the two samples. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature demonstrating that non-representative convenience samples can be sufficient in certain contexts.

Keywords: Non-representative convenience sampling; Field experiments; Online recruitment; Representative sampling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 C83 C93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s40881-023-00135-5

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