Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-gr6zb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-15T00:28:38.881Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Field Research

from Part I - Quantitative Data Collection Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2024

By
Sherry Jueyu Wu
Edited by
John E. Edlund  and
Austin Lee Nichols
John E. Edlund
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
Austin Lee Nichols
Affiliation:
Central European University, Vienna
Get access

Summary

Field research refers to research conducted with high degrees of naturalism. Compared with other research methodologies, field research can preserve the rigor of traditional laboratory research while augmenting the ecological validity and social impact of the research findings. The first part of this chapter provides a definition of field research and discusses its advantages and challenges. The second part of the chapter provides a brief overview of qualitative field methods and an in-depth overview of experimental field methods. It discusses different types of randomization schemes in field experiments, such as cluster randomization, block randomization, and waitlist designs. It further discusses the design and implementation concerns when conducting field experiments, including spillover, attrition, and non-compliance. The third part of the chapter provides an overview of some important considerations for conducting field research, including pilot testing, replicability and generalizability across contexts, and how geographical and technological advances impact field research.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Volume 2: Performing Research
 , pp. 93 - 115
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angrist, J. D., Imbens, G. W., & Rubin, D. B. (1996). Identification of causal effects using instrumental variables. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 91(434), 444–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aronow, P.M., & Samii, C. (2017). Estimating average causal effects under general interference, with application to a social network experiment. Annals of Applied Statistics, 11, 1912–1947.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astuti, R., & Bloch, M. (2010). Why a theory of human nature cannot be based on the distinction between universality and variability: Lessons from anthropology. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 83–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaman, L., Chattopadhyay, R., Duflo, E., Pande, R., & Topalova, P. (2009). Powerful women: Does exposure reduce bias? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(4), 1497–1540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beshears, J., Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Benartzi, S. (2021). Using fresh starts to nudge increased retirement savings. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 167, 72–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blair, G., Littman, R., & Paluck, E. L. (2019). Motivating the adoption of new community-minded behaviors: An empirical test in Nigeria. Science Advances, 5(3), eaau5175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blair, G., & McClendon, G. (2021). Conducting experiments in multiple contexts. In Druckman, J. (ed.), Advances in Experimental Political Science (pp. 411–428). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, G., Weinstein, J. M., Christia, F., Arias, E., Badran, E., Blair, R. A., et al. (2021). Community policing does not build citizen trust in police or reduce crime in the Global South. Science, 374(6571), eabd3446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broockman, D., & Kalla, J. (2016). Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing. Science, 352(6282), 220–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullock, J., Green, D., & Ha, S. (2010). Yes, but what’s the mechanism? (Don’t expect an easy answer). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 550–558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpenter, S. M., Menictas, M., Nahum-Shani, I., Wetter, D. W., & Murphy, S. A. (2020). Developments in mobile health just-in-time adaptive interventions for addiction science. Current Addiction Reports, 7(3), 280–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, E. H., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., Rebele, R. W., Massey, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Grant, A. M. (2019). The mixed effects of online diversity training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7778–7783.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cialdini, R. B. (1980). Full-cycle social psychology. Applied Social Psychology Annual, 1, 21–47.Google Scholar
Cialdini, R. B., Demaine, L. J., Sagarin, B. J., Barrett, D. W., Rhoads, K., & Winter, P. L. (2006). Managing social norms for persuasive impact. Social Influence, 1(1), 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cui, Z., Liu, L., Li, D., Wu, S. J., & Zhai, X. (2022). Safety messaging boosts parental vaccination intention for children ages 5–11. Vaccines, 10, 1205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dai, H., Saccardo, S., Han, M. A., Roh, L., Raja, N., Vangala, S., et al. (2021). Behavioural nudges increase COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature, 597(7876), 404–409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DiNardo, J., McCrary, J., & Sanbonmatsu, L. (2006). Constructive proposals for dealing with attrition: An empirical example. Working paper, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Dolan, P., & Galizzi, M. M. (2014). Getting policy-makers to listen to field experiments. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 30(4), 725–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duflo, E., & Banerjee, A. (2017). Handbook of Field Experiments. Elsevier.Google Scholar
Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., & Kremer, M. (2007). Using randomization in development economics research: A toolkit. Handbook of Development Economics, 4, 3895–3962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, T. (2016). Transparency, replication, and cumulative learning: What experiments alone cannot achieve. Annual Review of Political Science, 19, 541–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eden, D. (2017). Field experiments in organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4, 91–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraro, P. J., & Agrawal, A. (2021). Synthesizing evidence in sustainability science through harmonized experiments: Community monitoring in common pool resources. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(29), e2106489118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferrero, M., & Pinto, I. (2023). A regenerative tourism approach for the development of marginalised areas: Insights from two best practices in Southern Italy. Turistica – Italian Journal of Tourism, 32(1), 128–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gantman, A., Gomila, R., Martinez, J. E., Matias, J. N., Elizabeth, L. P., Starck, J., et al. (2018). A pragmatist philosophy of psychological science and its implications for replication. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerber, A. S., & Green, D. P. (2000). The effects of canvassing, telephone calls, and direct mail on voter turnout: A field experiment. American Political Science Review, 94(3), 653–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, A. S., & Green, D. P. (2012). Field Experiments: Design, Analysis, and Interpretation. W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., Doherty, D., Dowling, C. M., & Ha, S. E. (2010). Personality and political attitudes: Relationships across issue domains and political contexts. American Political Science Review, 104(1), 111–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gneezy, U., & Rustichini, A. (2000). A fine is a price. Journal of Legal Studies, 29(1), 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, J. (2009). Missing data analysis: Making it work in the real world. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 549–576.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, J. A., & Tummers, L. (2020). A systematic review of field experiments in public administration. Public Administration Review, 80(6), 921–931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, G. W., & List, J. A. (2004). Field experiments. Journal of Economic Literature, 42(4), 1009–1055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haushofer, J., & Shapiro, J. (2016). The short-term impact of unconditional cash transfers to the poor: Experimental evidence from Kenya. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(4), 1973–2042. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjw025CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hudgens, M. G., & Halloran, M. E. (2008). Toward causal inference with interference. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 103(482), 832–842.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hussey, M. A., & Hughes, J. P. (2007). Design and analysis of stepped wedge cluster randomized trials. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 28(2), 182–191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
International Telecommunication Union. (2021, November). Facts and figures 2021: 2.9 billion people still offline. https://www.itu.int/hub/2021/11/facts-and-figures-2021-2-9-billion-people-still-offlineGoogle Scholar
James, W. (1907). Pragmatism’s conception of truth. Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 4(6), 141–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapiszewski, D., MacLean, L. M., & Read, B. L. (2015). Field Research in Political Science: Practices and Principles. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, G., Pan, J., & Roberts, M. (2013). How censorship in China allows government criticism but silences collective expression. American Political Science Review, 107(2), 326–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewin, K. (1944/1997). Problems of research in social psychology. In Lewin, , Resolving Social Conflicts; & Field Theory in Social Science. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: II. channels of group life; social planning and action research. Human Relations, 1(2), 143–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marrow, A. J. (1977). The Practical Theorist: The Life and Work of Kurt Lewin. Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Moore-Berg, S. L., Bernstein, K., Gallardo, R. A., Hameiri, B., Littman, R., O’Neil, S., & Pasek, M. H. (2022). Translating social science for peace: Benefits, challenges, and recommendations. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 28(3), 274–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickerson, D. W. (2008). Is voting contagious? Evidence from two field experiments. American Political Science Review, 102(1), 49–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paluck, E. L. (2009). Reducing intergroup prejudice and conflict using the media: A field experiment in Rwanda. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 574–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paluck, E. L., & Cialdini, R. B. (2014). Field research methods. In Judd, C. M. & Reis, H. T. (eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology, 2nd ed. (pp. 81–98). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paluck, E. L., & Shafir, E. (2017). The psychology of construal in the design of field experiment. In Banerjee, A. V. & Duflo, E. (eds.), Handbook of Economic Field Experiments (vol. 1, pp. 245–268). North-Holland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, J. (2019). How Chinese officials use the internet to construct their public image. Political Science Research and Methods, 7(2), 197–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Research Center. (2024, April). Internet/Broadband Fact Sheet. www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-broadbandGoogle Scholar
Radsch, C. (2009). From cell phones to coffee: Issues of access in Egypt and Lebanon. In Sriram, C. L., King, J. C., Mertus, J. A., Martin-Ortega, O., & Herman, J. (eds.), Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203875278Google Scholar
Read, B. L., Kapiszewski, D., & MacLean, L. M. (2015). Field research in political science: Practices and principles. In Read, , Kapiszewski, , & MacLean, (eds.), Field Research in Political Science: Practices and Principles (pp. 1–33). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, S. O., Bareket-Shavit, C., Dollins, F. A., Goldie, P. D., & Mortenson, E. (2020). Racial inequality in psychological research: Trends of the past and recommendations for the future. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(6), 1295–1309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ross, L., & Nisbett, R. E. (1991). The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Rozin, P. (2010). The weirdest people in the world are a harbinger of the future of the world. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 108–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, D. B. (2001). Using propensity scores to help design observational studies: Application to the tobacco litigation. Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, 2(3), 169–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, D. B. (2005). Causal inference using potential outcomes. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 100(469), 322–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference. Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Shafer, K., & Lohse, B. (2005). How to conduct a cognitive interview: A nutrition education example. US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.Google Scholar
Silver, L. (2019, February 5). Smartphone ownership is growing rapidly around the world but not always equally. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/02/05/digital-connectivity-growing-rapidly-in-emerging-economiesGoogle Scholar
Tankard, M. E., & Paluck, E. L. (2017). The effect of a Supreme Court decision regarding gay marriage on social norms and personal attitudes. Psychological Science, 28(9), 1334–1344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617709594CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voigt, R., Camp, N. P., Prabhakaran, V., Hamilton, W. L., Hetey, R. C., Griffiths, C. M., et al. (2017). Language from police body camera footage shows racial disparities in officer respect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(25), 6521–6526.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science, 331(6023), 1447–1451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willis, G. (2004). Cognitive Interviewing. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412983655Google Scholar
Wood, E. J. (2009). Field research. In Boix, C. & Stokes, S. C. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (pp. 123–146). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, S. J., Mai, M., Yi, F., Truex, R., & Zhuang, M. (2023). Bootstrapping participation: A field experiment on participatory budgeting and civic engagement in China. Working paper.Google Scholar
Wu, S. J., & Paluck, E. L. (2020). Participatory practices at work change attitudes and behavior toward societal authority and justice. Nature Communications, 11(1), 2633.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, S. J., & Paluck, E. L. (2021). Designing nudges for the context: Golden coin decals nudge workplace behavior in China. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 163, 43–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, S. J., & Paluck, E. L. (2022). Having a voice in your group: Increasing productivity through group participation. Behavioural Public Policy, First View, 1–21.Google Scholar
Wu, S. J., Yuhan Mei, B., & Cervantez, J. (2022). Preferences and perceptions of workplace participation: A cross-cultural study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 806481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Field Research
  • Edited by John E. Edlund, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, Austin Lee Nichols, Central European University, Vienna
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Online publication: 12 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000796.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Field Research
  • Edited by John E. Edlund, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, Austin Lee Nichols, Central European University, Vienna
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Online publication: 12 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000796.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Field Research
  • Edited by John E. Edlund, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, Austin Lee Nichols, Central European University, Vienna
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Online publication: 12 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000796.006
Available formats
×