RANDOMIZED INTERVENTIONS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE: Are the Critics Right?

TY - CHAP

T1 - RANDOMIZED INTERVENTIONS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

T2 - Are the Critics Right?

AU - John, Peter

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Oxford University Press 2023.

PY - 2023/1/1

Y1 - 2023/1/1

N2 - Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), whereby subjects are randomly assigned to different conditions and outcomes are compared afterward, have become a very popular method in political science because they offer the possibility of causal inference that is so hard to achieve otherwise. But the method attracts strong criticism, often made from outside political science. It is claimed that trials have poor realism, weak external validity, allow for only a limited range of possible research topics, and throw up unique ethical challenges. While political scientists should take good note of these criticisms when they design trials, they also need to be aware that these kinds of challenges are also faced by social scientists generally. All scholars need to be aware of the limits of the methods they use, which include randomized controlled trials.

AB - Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), whereby subjects are randomly assigned to different conditions and outcomes are compared afterward, have become a very popular method in political science because they offer the possibility of causal inference that is so hard to achieve otherwise. But the method attracts strong criticism, often made from outside political science. It is claimed that trials have poor realism, weak external validity, allow for only a limited range of possible research topics, and throw up unique ethical challenges. While political scientists should take good note of these criticisms when they design trials, they also need to be aware that these kinds of challenges are also faced by social scientists generally. All scholars need to be aware of the limits of the methods they use, which include randomized controlled trials.

KW - experiments in political science

KW - field experiments

KW - political methodology

KW - randomized controlled trials (RCTs)

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190044341&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197519806.013.17

DO - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197519806.013.17

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85190044341

SN - 9780197519806

SP - 343

EP - 354

BT - The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Political Science

PB - Oxford University Press

ER -