Policy experimentation: core concepts, political dynamics, governance and impacts

Abstract

The experimentalist 'turn' in scienceIn the last two decades, many areas of the social sciences have embraced an 'experimentalist turn'.It is well known for instance that experiments are a key ingredient in the emergence of behavioral economics, but they are also increasingly popular in sociology, political science, planning, and in architecture (see McDermott 2002).It seems that the potential advantages of experiments are better appreciated today than they were in the past.But the turn towards experimentalism is not without its critics.In her passionate plea for more experimentation in political science for instance, McDermott (2002: 42) observes how many political scientists are hesitant: they are more interested in large-scale multiple regression work, lack training in experimentation, do not see how experiments could fit into a broader research strategy, and alternative movements in political science (such as constructivists and postmodernists) consider that experimental work is not able to capture complexities and nuances.Representing some of these criticisms, Howe (2004) suggests

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