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Putting Politics in the Lab: A Review of Lab Experiments in Political Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2018

Damien Bol
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Abstract

Experiments are now common in political science. They are an excellent methodological tool to estimate the causal effect of a treatment on an outcome. In this article, I review the use of lab experiments in political science. After a brief report on their popularity and advantages, I distinguish two ideal-types (economics-based and psychology-based) and outline the main lines of division between them. In the final section, I discuss the main challenges that lab experimentalists are facing today.

Keywords

experimentlabmethodpolitical science

Information

Type
Review Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 167 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

*

Damien Bol is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. Contact email: damien.bol@kcl.ac.uk.

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