Abstract

Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences is the only book providing core information for researchers about the ways and means to conduct experiments. Its comprehensive regard for laboratory experiments encompasses “how-to” explanations, investigations of philosophies and ethics, explorations of experiments in specific social science disciplines, and summaries of both the history and future of social science laboratories. No other book offers such a direct avenue to enlarging our knowledge in the social sciences.
This collection of original chapters combines instructions and advice about the design of laboratory experiments in the social sciences with the array of other issues. While there are books on experimental design and chapters in more general methods books on design, theory, and ethical issues, no other book attempts to discuss the fundamental ideas of the philosophy of science or lays out the methods comprehensively or in such detail. Experimentation has recently prospered because of increasing interest in cross-disciplinary syntheses, and this book of advice, guidelines, and observations underline its potential and increasing importance.
· Provides a comprehensive summary of issues in social science experimentation, from ethics to design, management, and financing
· Offers "how-to" explanations of the problems and challenges faced by everyone involved in social science experiments
· Pays attention to both practical problems and to theoretical and philosophical arguments
· Defines commonalities and distinctions within and among experimental situations across the social sciences
"...the strongest part of this book were the chapters on methodology and on experimental implementation. The methodological discussions and concepts were excellent...and the advice for implementation covered quite a lot of ground."
--Rachol Croson, University of Texas at Dallas in Journal of Economic Psychology, 2008
"...this is a long-awaited volume, which will serve many social scientists well into the future as a guide to experimentation in a very pragmatic sense."
—Contemporary Sociology, 37,6