What do I do in an economicexperiment?

The answer to that question varies from experiment to experiment. Nearly all experiments run at GMU will be electronic, so most of the time you will be interacting with other subjects via computer. Each experiment is focused on different economic questions, so the decisions you will be required to make will depend on the experiment you are participating in. Many experiments involve buying and/or selling decisions in an electronic market. Some involve voting. In other experiments you are simply asked to choose between alternative payoffs. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. Any experiment you participate in may involve some, all, or none of these decisions.

Where are the experiments held?

Most of the experiments will be in the ICES Lab. The lab is located on the second floor of Student Union Building II, across from the cafeteria. You will see a set of steel double doors with a large green sign above it marked “ICES Laboratory.” If you go through these doors and down the hall you will come to another set of double doors (these doors will be glass, with “ICES Lab” stenciled on them). These doors open into the lab’s waiting room.

How do I make money?

There are two ways in which you make money in an economic experiment. The first way is the show-up bonus, which is a flat payment (usually between five and ten dollars) that we give you just for showing up on time.

The second way you make money is the decision based payments. This is where you will earn the bulk of your money. Every experiment is designed in such a way that the decisions you make result in earnings. You will be paid your experimental earnings, plus the show-up bonus, all in cash (U.S. dollars) immediately following the experiment. If the experiment is more than one day, all money will be at the end of the last day.

How much money will I make?

In large part, that is up to you. Since most of your money comes from your decisions, we cannot guarantee you any amount of money besides your show-up bonus. However, please remember that it is in our interest to make subjects happy with their earnings. We want you to be a repeat customer, so to speak. If history is any indication, we have been pretty successful at keeping our subjects happy. Our experience has been that roughly 95% of the people who participate in one experiment, participate in another.

Where does the money come from to pay me?

ICES has a variety of sources for funding including the National Science Foundation and the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics. Additional funding is provided by research grants from various non-profit institutions.

What about privacy?

ICES completely respects the privacy of its student subjects. While we do require some information, such as your GMU ID number and email address, we use them only for the purposes of recruiting and paying you for the experiments. We will not give or sell our database in part or in full to anyone outside of the experimental lab. Also, while the database is online, all reasonable precautions are taken to keep your personal information secure.

How important is punctuality?

Very important. Our experiments require subjects to read through instructions and become comfortable with the user interface. Subjects arriving late give us less time to run the experiment. This hurts both the researchers and the subjects, as the researchers will end up with less data and the subjects will have less time to make money.

A good rule of thumb is to show up at the lab ten to fifteen minutes early. This will give us a good buffer of time to run the experiment on schedule. It also minimizes your chances of forfeiting the show-up bonus. Customarily, subjects who show up more than five minutes late will not be paid the show-up bonus because they did not show up on time.

Do I have to be an economics student to participate?

Absolutely not. You don’t even need to have attended a single economics class. The only skills you must have to participate in an economic experiment are literacy and the ability to enter your decisions into a computer interface via the keyboard and mouse.

How long are the experiments?

The typical experiment lasts one or two hours. If an experiment is longer than this, we usually break it up over the course of a few days.

Can I participate in more than one experiment?

Of course! We hope that you will participate in as many experiments as possible. It is important to remember, however, that once you have participated in a particular experiment, you are often ineligible to participate in that specific experiment again.

Can I bring a friend to an experiment?

You are certainly welcome to talk to your friends about the experiments and encourage them to create a profile in our database. You may also bring a friend with you to an experiment in hopes that both of you can participate. However, understand that only students who have been recruited and confirmed for an experiment can expect to participate or be paid the show-up bonus. If you bring friends, there is always the chance that we will be able to use them for an experiment, in which case they will be paid in full. There is no guarantee, however, that we will be able to use them, and thus there is no guarantee that they will make any money. The only sure way for them to make money is to sign up for an experiment in advance.

Is there risk of any pain or physical harm in an experiment?

No. Economic experiments are never designed to involve physical discomfort or injury. Participating in an economic experiment is as safe as working on your computer at home.

I have a question that was not answered in this FAQ. Who do I talk to?

Please direct any questions to EconExperiments@aol.com .