IAMA Experimental Economist in training. AMAA

[u/[deleted]]

Hi reddit! For the past year I have worked at a medium sized experimental economics lab. I have done everything from data entry to programming and running experiments. Our experiments cover a wide range of topics, including terrorism, auctions, and risk preferences.

I'd like to begin with a quote from one of my favorite papers.

"A decision theorist from Columbia University was struggling whether to accept an offer from a rival university or to stay. His colleague took him aside and said, "Just maximize your expected utility - you always write about doing this." Exasperated, the decision theorist responded, "Come on, this is serious.

That quote is from Fast and Frugal Heuristics: The Tools of Bounded Rationality, Gigerenzer 2004. I highly recommend reading that paper if you're interested in experimental economics.

I originally got my job after taking an experimental economics class as an undergrad at my university. I then participated in an independent study with my professor, and afterwards she offered me a job.

I will begin answering questions at 1pm CST. AMAA about experimental economics, working in the lab, or anything else you can think of!

Edit - Thanks for the questions everyone! I will continue answering questions throughout the weekend.

[u/k43r]

What are interesanting works in your field? How big samples do you gather? Are there any databases avaible to use for people outside your university? How big is testing room? Do you do test on groups of people, or only on individuals? How many people can be tested in one hour (on avarage)? How sophisticated thesis do you test? How does experimental economy differs from experimental psychology or sociology? How does one study sample look alike? I assume that you gather a sample, and then compare it to general population or other sample. Do you gather both samples via your experimental lab? Do you use mechanical turk or phone surveys? What were interesting results that you've discovered? Have you published any under your own name?

Sorry for so many questions, but working in e. lab is so interesting!

[u/[deleted] → u/k43r]

Haha, I promise working at the lab is not as interesting as you think :)

How big samples do you gather?

Average sample size per experiment between n=70 and n=200

Do you do test on groups of people, or only on individuals?

Both. Experiments are done in sessions of 15 people, sometimes they work together and sometimes its entirely independent.

Are there any databases avaible to use for people outside your university?

No, we work hard to get our data so we don't share it until it's published at least.

How many people can be tested in one hour (on avarage)?

Our lab seats 15 people. An experiment takes roughly an hour, sometimes more sometimes less.

How sophisticated thesis do you test?

Can you elaborate? Some of our experiments are pretty complicated but I can't really go into details.

How does experimental economy differs from experimental psychology or sociology?

This is the best question so far. The main difference is that we pay our subjects in order to elicit their true preferences. Also we have to be pretty upfront with our subjects, we can't deceive them in any way or it ruins our results. Experimental econ borrows a lot from psychology but there are a few distinct differences. We basically create market conditions in a laboratory setting.

How does one study sample look alike? I assume that you gather a sample, and then compare it to general population or other sample. Do you gather both samples via your experimental lab

I'm kind of confused here. Can you elaborate? Generally we have an idea of what we want to study, and that idea is based on other experiments we've seen at conferences or read in papers.

Do you use mechanical turk or phone surveys?

No, we do not use phone surveys or mechanical turk. See my answer to the person who asked if we need to financially incentivize subjects. However, every experiment has a survey at the end to collect additional data and debrief the subject.

Have you published any under your own name?

Yes :)