Measuring and Bounding Experimenter Demand

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: de Quidt, Jonathan; Haushofer, Johannes; Roth, Christopher
• 署名单位: Stockholm University; Princeton University; Princeton University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20171330
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 3266-3302
• 关键词: measuring social preferences; dictator game; anonymity

摘要

We propose a technique for assessing robustness to demand effects of findings from experiments and surveys. The core idea is that by deliberately inducing demand in a structured way we can bound its influence. We present a model in which participants respond to their beliefs about the researcher's objectives. Bounds are obtained by manipulating those beliefs with demand treatments. We apply the method to 11 classic tasks, and estimate bounds averaging 0.13 standard deviations, suggesting that typical demand effects are probably modest. We also show how to compute demand-robust treatment effects and how to structurally estimate the model.