Teaching with experiments

Abstract

This chapter presents a teaching form whose popularity in public administration has increased in recent years: experiments. The first part outlines three prevalent experimental forms: survey experiments with students exposed to a treatment; in-class experiments drawn from social psychology; and simulations and role-playing games. Though the trend toward experiments is relativity new, and motivated by the push for student-centred active learning, its pedagogical roots are old: these are a contemporary manifestation of experiential learning (Kolb 1984). As such, experiments have much to recommend them. And, in the second half of the chapter, we focus on their utility for public administration advancing seven specific claims. The chapter closes noting the challenges for would-be experimenters.