Morgan, Mary S. (2013) Nature's experiments and natural experiments in the social sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 43 (3). pp. 341-357. ISSN 0048-3931
Abstract
This article explores the characteristics of research sites that scientists have called “natural experiments” to understand and develop usable distinctions for the social sciences between “Nature’s or Society’s experiments” and “natural experiments.” In this analysis, natural experiments emerge as the retro-fitting by social scientists of events that have happened in the social world into the traditional forms of field or randomized trial experiments. By contrast, “Society’s experiments” figure as events in the world that happen in circumstances that are already sufficiently “controlled” to be open for direct analysis without reconstruction work.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://pos.sagepub.com/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2013 The Author |
| Library of Congress subject classification: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Sets: | Departments > Economic History |
| Funders: | Wolfson Foundation via the British Academy |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Sep 2013 14:21 |
| URL: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/52535/ |
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