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when actually faced with that decision, resulting in a hypothetical bias. Similarly,
asking people about their past behavior may introduce memory recall issues, as
people are unlikely to remember their past decisions with perfect accuracy. Surveys
must be carefully designed to ensure that the information collected will adequately
address questions that researchers are attempting to answer. (See Krosnick 1999 for
a more in-depth discussion of survey design for the study of human behavior and
Rust and Golombok (2014) for an in-depth discussion of measurement or
psychometrics.)
4.4.1.2 Experiments
Conducting experiments is another way to address these potential response biases
and inform models of human behavior and decision-making. Experiments allow
researchers to reduce variation in external factors to isolate the effect of a particular
variable of interest, such as prices, information provided, or another experimental
treatment. Importantly, experimental designs allow researchers to draw causal conclusions. They often allow researchers to observe participants’ actual choices and
behavior, rather than relying on hypothetical choices or reporting past behaviors.
Experimental methods are varied and include experiments conducted in a controlled
laboratory setting as well as in a more natural setting (e.g., field experiments).
Laboratory experiments involve randomly assigning some participants to one
type of treatment (e.g., having participants set goals, or exposing them to a persuasive message), and others to a control group, in order to enable comparisons across
these groups. Often, participants are then asked to make choices, such as which
product they would purchase or whether or how they would dispose of waste. These
procedures are conducted in a controlled setting such as a computer lab, reducing
external variables that may provide alternate explanations for results, and allow
researchers to directly observe participants’ behavior rather than relying on participants to report on past or hypothetical behavior.
Similar to lab experiments, field experiments allow researchers to control variation to observe how participants make decisions. However, field experiments are
conducted in an environment that more closely resembles the decision-maker’s
natural choice setting. For example, researchers may alter the information presented
to supermarket customers about the conditions in which animals were raised and
observe whether they choose to purchase conventionally or organically grown
products.
Despite the advantages of conducting experiments, they also have some limitations. As with surveys, it may be difficult to recreate the decision context of interest
exactly, and some hypothetical bias may still exist. Participants may be aware of the
fact that their behavior is being observed, and they may alter it to align with the
study objectives more closely. Additionally, sample sizes for experiments are often
significantly smaller than those for surveys, potentially limiting the scope of conclusions that can be made from experimental evidence.
4 Human Behavior and Adaptation
when actually faced with that decision, resulting in a hypothetical bias. Similarly,
asking people about their past behavior may introduce memory recall issues, as
people are unlikely to remember their past decisions with perfect accuracy. Surveys
must be carefully designed to ensure that the information collected will adequately
address questions that researchers are attempting to answer. (See Krosnick 1999 for
a more in-depth discussion of survey design for the study of human behavior and
Rust and Golombok (2014) for an in-depth discussion of measurement or
psychometrics.)
4.4.1.2 Experiments
Conducting experiments is another way to address these potential response biases
and inform models of human behavior and decision-making. Experiments allow
researchers to reduce variation in external factors to isolate the effect of a particular
variable of interest, such as prices, information provided, or another experimental
treatment. Importantly, experimental designs allow researchers to draw causal conclusions. They often allow researchers to observe participants’ actual choices and
behavior, rather than relying on hypothetical choices or reporting past behaviors.
Experimental methods are varied and include experiments conducted in a controlled
laboratory setting as well as in a more natural setting (e.g., field experiments).
Laboratory experiments involve randomly assigning some participants to one
type of treatment (e.g., having participants set goals, or exposing them to a persuasive message), and others to a control group, in order to enable comparisons across
these groups. Often, participants are then asked to make choices, such as which
product they would purchase or whether or how they would dispose of waste. These
procedures are conducted in a controlled setting such as a computer lab, reducing
external variables that may provide alternate explanations for results, and allow
researchers to directly observe participants’ behavior rather than relying on participants to report on past or hypothetical behavior.
Similar to lab experiments, field experiments allow researchers to control variation to observe how participants make decisions. However, field experiments are
conducted in an environment that more closely resembles the decision-maker’s
natural choice setting. For example, researchers may alter the information presented
to supermarket customers about the conditions in which animals were raised and
observe whether they choose to purchase conventionally or organically grown
products.
Despite the advantages of conducting experiments, they also have some limitations. As with surveys, it may be difficult to recreate the decision context of interest
exactly, and some hypothetical bias may still exist. Participants may be aware of the
fact that their behavior is being observed, and they may alter it to align with the
study objectives more closely. Additionally, sample sizes for experiments are often
significantly smaller than those for surveys, potentially limiting the scope of conclusions that can be made from experimental evidence.
4 Human Behavior and Adaptation