Field Experiments on Social Media
Name
Moslet_et_al_field_experiment_socialmedia.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
647.21 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ba96d509be8098d9e38aee231f16134e
Author(s)
Mosleh, Mohsen
Pennycook, Gordon
Rand, David G
Date Issued
2022
Journal
Current Directions in Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Citation
Mosleh, Mohsen, Pennycook, Gordon and Rand, David G. 2022. "Field Experiments on Social Media." Current Directions in Psychological Science, 31 (1).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Online behavioral data, such as digital traces from social media, have the potential to allow researchers an unprecedented new window into human behavior in ecologically valid everyday contexts. However, research using such data is often purely observational, which limits its usefulness for identifying causal relationships. Here we review recent innovations in experimental approaches to studying online behavior, with a particular focus on research related to misinformation and political psychology. In hybrid lab-field studies, exposure to social-media content can be randomized, and the impact on attitudes and beliefs can be measured using surveys, or exposure to treatments can be randomized within survey experiments, and their impact on subsequent online behavior can be observed. In field experiments conducted on social media, randomized treatments can be administered directly to users in the online environment (e.g., via social-tie invitations, private messages, or public posts) without revealing that they are part of an experiment, and the effects on subsequent online behavior can then be observed. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed, along with practical advice and central ethical constraints on such studies.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214211054761
