Field Experiments for Soc Sci

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course is for students who want to learn how to design and run field experiments as a research methodology. The course will be oriented towards providing the skills for the design and implementation of field experiments, including overcoming the possible associated pitfalls. We will present a comprehensive catalog on new results from research along with the areas that remain to be explored. Students will get familiar with the politics and practice of social experiments, the methodology and practice of RCTs, and the econometrics of randomized experiments. These topics will be applied to a wide variety of fields, from politics to education, and firm productivity, providing students with training that will help them to propose their own designs to answer their own questions. The objective is for students to refine their own experimental designs and be able to run them by the end of the course. This course is oriented for students who want to learn the technical skills of running and managing a field experiment, for the purpose of conducting randomized impact evaluations of innovative programs in companies, governments, and NGOs.