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Experimental practices in economics: a methodological challenge for psychologists?
1Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14195 Berlin, Germany. hertwig@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|October 31, 2001
Summary
Economics experiments use structured scripts, repeated trials, performance pay, and no deception, unlike psychology. This procedural regularity in economics may explain more consistent findings compared to psychology's varied methods.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Experimental Psychology
- Decision Making
Background:
- Economics and psychology employ distinct experimental practices, particularly in behavioral decision making research.
- Key differences include script enactment, trial repetition, payment structures, and deception protocols.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare experimental methodologies in economics and psychology.
- To analyze the implications of these differing practices on empirical findings.
- To propose recommendations for improving experimental consistency.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of four economic experimental features: script enactment, repeated trials, performance-based payments, and no deception.
- Contrast with typical practices in psychological decision-making research.
Main Results:
- Economic experiments exhibit regulatory standards with low researcher variation, fostering procedural regularity.
- Psychological experiments show more laissez-faire standards, leading to greater methodological diversity.
- This diversity in psychology may contribute to empirical finding variability.
Conclusions:
- Economic experimental standards promote consistency, potentially reducing variability in findings.
- A call for research into the consequences of methodological preferences is made.
- Recommendations include a 'do-it-both-ways' approach for scripts, repetition, and payments, and a default against deception.