Essay

Evaluating Experimental Designs for External Validity

An economist wants to study if public recognition increases charitable giving. Consider two potential experimental designs:

Design A (Laboratory): University students are recruited to a lab. Each is given $20 and the option to donate any amount to a well-known charity. In one condition, participants are told their name and donation amount will be announced to the small group of other participants at the end of the session. In the control condition, donations are anonymous.

Design B (Field): The economist partners with a local charity during its annual online fundraising campaign. A sample of real donors visiting the website are randomly assigned to one of two groups. In the first group, donors are told their name can be listed on a public 'Honor Roll' on the charity's website. The second group is a control and is not given this option. The economist compares the average donation size between the two groups.

Based on established critiques concerning the differences between behavior in controlled settings versus the real world, evaluate which of these two designs is likely to produce results that are more representative of actual human generosity. Justify your evaluation by comparing the two designs on at least three critical dimensions.

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Updated 2025-08-20

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Introduction to Microeconomics Course