Networked Experiments
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Networked experiments.pdf
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463.87 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e4cdd7174063cd3a627f344ec827d516
Author(s)
Aral, Sinan K
Date Issued
June 2016
Journal
The Oxford Handbook on the Economics of Networks
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
Aral, Sinan. “Networked Experiments.” The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks. Eds. Yann Bramoullé, Andrea Galeotti, and Brian Rogers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
This chapter considers the design and analysis of networked experiments, one of the most precise tools available for studying social behavior. As a result of digitization, the scale, scope and complexity of networked experiments have expanded significantly in recent years, creating a need for more robust design and analysis strategies. I first review innovations in networked experimental design, assessing the implications of the experimental setting, sampling, randomization procedures and treatment assignment. I then discuss the analysis of networked experiments, with particular emphasis on modeling treatment response assumptions, inference and estimation, and recent approaches to interference and uncertainty in dependent data. I conclude by discussing important challenges facing the future of networked experimentation, focusing
on adaptive treatment assignment, novel randomization techniques, linking online treatments to offline responses and experimental validation of observational methods. I hope this framework can help guide future
work toward a cumulative research tradition in networked experimentation.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199948277.013.24
