Schram, A. (2005). Artificiality: the tension between internal and external validity in economic experiments Journal of Economic Methodology, 12(2):225--237.
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Affiliated author
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Publication year2005
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JournalJournal of Economic Methodology
The artificiality of a laboratory situation is placed in the context of the tension between external and internal validity. Most economists consider internal validity to be most important. A proper evaluation of the `artificiality criticism¿ (a lack of external validity) requires distinguishing the various goals experimentalists pursue. External validity is relatively more important for experiments searching for empirical regularities than for theory-testing experiments. As experimental results are being used more often in the development of new theories, a methodological discussion of their external validity is becoming more important.