Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Contents: Why Experiment? The Rationale and History of Social Experiments / Basic Concepts and Principles of Social Experimentation / Alternative Random Assignment Models / Sample Design / Implementation and Data Collection / Analysis / Social Experimentation and the Policy Process
Synopsis
Written in a friendly, how-to manner, Social Experiments provides a basic understanding of how to design and implement social experiments and how to interpret their results. Through illustrative examples, the author provides a grounding in the experimental method and gives advice on: designs that best address alternative policy questions; maximizing the precision of the estimates; implementing the experiment in the field; data collection; estimating and interpreting program impacts, costs, and benefits; dealing with biases; and the use and misuse of experimental results in the policy process.