8 - Experiments, Political Elites, and Political Institutions

Summary

The use of experiments to study the behavior of political elites in institutions has a long history and is once again becoming an active field of research. I review that history, noting that government officials within political institutions frequently use random assignment to test for policy effects and to encourage compliance. Scholars of political institutions have generally been slower than practitioners to embrace the use of experiments, though there has been remarkable growth in experimentation by scholars to study political elites. I summarize the domains in which scholars have most commonly used experiments, commenting on how researchers have seized opportunities to leverage random assignment. I highlight design challenges including limited sample sizes, answering theoretically-driven questions while partnering with public officials or others, and the difficulty of conducting replications. I then implore scholars to be bold in using experiments to study political institutions while also being mindful of ethical considerations.