Experiments in Public Administration and Management - Einzelansicht

"It is, of course, the way of all things. You see, there is only one constant, one universal, it is the only real truth: causality. Action – reaction; cause – and effect."
Merovingian - The Matrix Reloaded

Experiments have been gradually included in the methodical canon of public administration and management studies. Nevertheless, this trend has been neglected in education and training of university even though experiments are perceived as the best way to analyse causalities.

This course aims to give a basic understanding of the experimental methodology, quantitative methods, differences between the diverse types of experiments along with their implementations in order to recognise and conduct good experiments as well as to distinguish them from poor ones. Participants will be able to design a research plan for an experimental study as well as work with real datasets from experimental research. The number of participants will be restricted up to 20 students.

It is strongly recommended to acquire basic knowledge on inferential statistics as well as basic skills in STATA or R beforehand.

Course requirements:

• weekly assignments (to get a pass/fail)
• term paper (only for a graded participation)

Students will be able to ...

• gain basic knowledge on different approaches of experimental methodology.
• distinguish different types of experiments.
• reflect on experimental studies critically.
• discuss old and current practices of publication.
• develop experimental designs for different issues.
• replicate statistical analyses of experimental data.