14.160  Experimental & Behavioral Econ

Hi Class--

Everyone just received the email below with their individual project. Whatever grade was on the scanned document was your grade, although, if you had an "A-/A" suggested, you got an "A-" or a "B+/A-" suggested, you got a "B+". This is only for your Individual Proposal. You final grade will be a weighted sum ~60%/40% individual v. group. Thus, interpret " (B+/A- => B+) " as, "for example, if you received a "B+/A-" suggested grade by me, that would imply that your proposal grade would be "B+", as Erst requested that I round down.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

--Randall


Hi Class--
>
> I hope you're looking forward to an enjoyable break! Happy holidays!
>
> You should find your graded Individual Proposal attached. The final grade is my
> suggested grade or the lower of the two suggested grades (B+/A- => B+) per
> Erst's designation. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
>
> Everyone did a great job on the proposals. If you end up running your
> experiment, let me know, as I'd love to hear about the outcome! I honestly had
> an enjoyable time reading about your ideas. Thanks for being a great class!
>
> --Randall

Just a reminder that your group experiment write-ups are due by Monday. They were due by Friday, but there wasn't much time between approvals, execution of experiments, and the due date, so you can have a little more time. Finish it ASAP, though, for your own good. :)

Let me know if you have any questions.

--Randall

Hi Class--

I need to know information from each group.

#1. Will your group need the $500 of MIT Economics funding to run the experiment?
#2. If Yes to #1, to whom in the group should the check be written out to?
#3. Are there any other needs that you have to run the experiment (venue, etc.)?
#4. Who should be the main contact for the group (this should probably be the same person as the check) to make decisions about scheduling and other issues of #2 and #3?

Thanks,
  Randall

Hi Class--

So, the course has gone really well so far. I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I have!

I wanted to remind you about the group experiments:
#1. Those who are using the Sloan Trading Room or Economics Grad Lab to run your experiment need to contact me. I am currently trying to schedule time in the Sloan Trading Room, as it is the best venue, but in order to do that, I need to know what times you would like to run your experiment. The more flexible you are, the better for everyone. In particular, daytime experiments are very good for tapping into the MIT student population that may have an extra hour between classes. Also, I am not yet 100% sure about the time that we will have the Sloan Trading Room available--but knowing when you want it will help me find out. Keep in mind that the MIT IRB should be sending out approvals to proposals that pass shortly following November 20th, and you need approval before running your experiment.

In short, figure out when you want to run your experiment.

#2. Money for the experiments can be acquired from me or Jessica Colon. I am working with her to figure out the details, but you should be able to pick up a money bag (with $500, unless otherwise negotiated with Ricardo Caballero and/or Ernst). You should make sure to have enough change (you can get this at the bank very easily--they can even prepare it for you if you tell them beforehand or when you show up) to pay everyone exactly what they earned (trying to figure out how to break a $20 at the end of an experiment can be very awkward). Make sure to have sufficient $5's, $1's, and quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies (if relevant). Remember to take into account any show-up fees. Also, make sure to calibrate your experimental payments so that you don't end up forking out $400 of your own cash from your own wallet to pay subjects (unless, of course, you'd like to).

In short, count and divide your cash.

#3. Recruiting subjects requires creativity and effort. Post flyers across campus multiple times during the week. I hope you have figured out how you're going to keep track of potential subjects and assign them (hopefully somewhat randomly if not perfectly randomly) to treatments. The way we recruited was with flyers with an email address tab. People emailed the address knowing that the experiment could be held at one of 4 times (we wanted four sessions). Then we ended up pooling into 2 sessions since we didn't get enough people. We had a pretty high show-up rate, conditional on sending out emails to each person with their session.

In short, start advertising and recruiting!


If you have any questions or concerns, please email me.

--Randall

Hi Class--

Keep up the good work and get your IRB forms in for your group projects. Your individual project proposals will be due November 7th, so don't stress too much to get them done by the 2nd. I apologize for anyone that has been overworked over the last few days due to that. Yet, the sooner you get it done, the sooner you can worry about recruiting for your experiments!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

--Randall