Experimental methods B: Laboratory experiments

This chapter deals with Laboratory experiments, which are argued to be the main mode of scientific endeavor in many disciplines. It suggests that only recently has experimenting in the laboratory gained the attention from public administration and public management scholars. Laboratory experiments offer a number of specific advantages for public administration and pubic management scholars such as the ability to observe the behavior of participants in a highly controlled environment, which offer the advantage of drawing causal inferences. As with other chapters, this one is divided in two parts. The first part of this chapter focuses on the characteristics of laboratory experiments, on how experiments in the lab in public administration and management compare to existing traditions of laboratory research in behavioral economics and psychology, it focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the lab and it gives some practical pointers such as how to deal with subject recruitment and how to randomize. The second part of this chapter provides an example of a study based on a laboratory experiment. In this study, the authors test the degree to which individuals with high levels of public service motivation choose to cooperate with their opponents in a negotiation setting. The findings show that indeed, individuals with high levels of public service motivation behave more cooperative than those with lower levels of public service motivation.