Abstraction in Experimental Design (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781108995597)

Political scientists designing experiments often face the question of how abstract or detailed their experimental stimuli should be. Typically, this question is framed in terms of tradeoffs relating to experimental control and generalizability: the more context introduced into studies, the less control, and the more difficulty generalizing the results. Yet, we have reason to question this tradeoff, and there is relatively little systematic evidence to rely on when calibrating the degree of abstraction in studies. We make two contributions. First, we provide a theoretical framework which identifies and considers the consequences of three dimensions of abstraction in experimental design: situational hypotheticality, actor identity, and contextual detail. Second, we field a range of survey experiments, varying these levels of abstraction. We find that situational hypotheticality does not substantively change experimental results, but increased contextual detail dampens treatment effects and the salience of actor identities moderates results in specific situations.

Author: Ryan Brutger, Joshua D. Kertzer, Jonathan Renshon
ISBN-10: 1108995594
ISBN-13: 9781108995597
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 12/21/2022
Pages: 96
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.31lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.20d