Conducting Interactive Experiments Online

Antonio A. Arechar (), Simon Gächter and Lucas Molleman ()
Additional contact information
Antonio A. Arechar: Yale University
Lucas Molleman: Max Planck Institute for Human Development

No 10517, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Online labor markets provide new opportunities for behavioral research, but conducting economic experiments online raises important methodological challenges. This particularly holds for interactive designs. In this paper, we provide a methodological discussion of the similarities and differences between interactive experiments conducted in the laboratory and online. To this end, we conduct a repeated public goods experiment with and without punishment using samples from the laboratory and the online platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. We chose to replicate this experiment because it is long and logistically complex. It therefore provides a good case study for discussing the methodological and practical challenges of online interactive experimentation. We find that basic behavioral patterns of cooperation and punishment in the laboratory are replicable online. The most important challenge of online interactive experiments is participant dropout. We discuss measures for reducing dropout and show that, for our case study, dropouts are exogenous to the experiment. We conclude that data quality for interactive experiments via the Internet is adequate and reliable, making online interactive experimentation a valuable complement to laboratory studies.

Keywords: experimental methodology; behavioral research; punishment; internet experiments; Amazon Mechanical Turk; public goods game (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C71 C88 C90 D71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-ict
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published - revised version published in: Experimental Economics , 2018, 21( 1), 99 -131

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Related works:
Journal Article: Conducting interactive experiments online (2018)
Working Paper: Conducting interactive experiments online (2017)
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