Running Field Economic Experiments in Farming Villages: Our Soc Trang Experience
by Irene Mussio
Running economic experiments in the field requires a flexible and adaptive approach.
You do not always know what is going to happen when you arrive. Many times, thing don’t always go according to plan. Your location can change on the spot, the weather can affect your session (As we discovered when we ran a session in 38 degrees Celsius at 2pm!), particpants may not arrive, or in some cases too many particpants may arrive!
Running the experiment in our first location. Credit: Dao Vu Huong Giang
So, we’ve provided 10 “for newbies” top tips, based on our experiences from our first set of sessions in Vinh Chau, Soc Trang:
1. Be nice and respect your participants
They are taking time from their day to come and take part in your experiment! In our case, participants paused farming activities to come to our sessions and did not expect compensation (although they were compensated for their time as is standard in experimental economics practice).
2. Pay your participants properly
We made sure to consult with local researchers and follow local practices for fair payments. Our participants received at least 4 GBP, an average of 8 GBP and could get a maximum of 12 GBP to for 2 hours of “work”, which for local standards is a generous amount.
3. Be nice to the local guides and authorities
Guides, authorities, and anyone else who aids with field experiments should be compensated wherever possible. Local (government) guides took time from their daily schedules to invite participants to our sessions. They also needed to formalise our work in the field, which involved a lot of administration with passports, visa records, lists of researchers etc. particularly as I (the foreign researcher) was part of the research group running the experiments and some of our work was near the border.
4. Bring snacks
It was extremely hot in the field! We brought water, soft drinks and treats for our participants, and the occasional kid and grandkid who also showed up. We also made sure that our assistants stayed hydrated throughout the sessions.
5. Make sure your assistants have time to rest
Schedule time between sessions and adapt to local practices. There was always a relatively long mid-day break to cope with the heat and have lunch, and a break after the last session and dinner.
6. Be flexible but consistent
Sometimes the location where we were running our experiments was occupied with another meeting and we had to switch to another local meeting point and think in the moment about how we were going to separate participants to avoid them talking to each other all the time. We also implemented clapping as a social contract to reduce noise and conversation (regardless of the occasional participant taking a call mid-session and someone playing rap music outside once). We had to change the time of a session to the day before, so we ended with a late-afternoon third session on the second day and a single session on our last day. However, our experiments always had the same structure and work dynamic (see point #8).
7. Prepare properly
Bring extras of everything, printouts, posters, tape, pens. If you might think you need it, then you certainly do!
8. Your local researchers are the backbone of the experimental work
Our seven assistants made the sessions run like a little machine. Duyen was incredible at engaging with the participants and reading the instructions for everyone to understand. Da and Hieu were the ones connecting us with the local authorities for participant recruitment. Everyone had their role and they played it to perfection. Practice does make things go perfectly as well, and their experience in the field is, in the end, what help us succeed in this period of data collection. They also gave us extensive feedback to improve the games’ presentation and socioeconomic survey.
The Team! Credit: Chau My Duyen
9. Keep it fun!
For our participants in the Mekong River Delta, playing lotteries and throwing dice were the highlight of our economic games. It made our activities fun and provided a laugh at the end of the experimental session. We even had a session where the local council member threw the final dice to get him involved (as we were working in his “office”)!
So, what now?
We have at least five more locations to go to get to our participant goal, and we will continue working under these principles which make the standard for the work we do in experimental economics.
Expect more from us after our experiements in different locations, and an update on how we solve any challenges that arise!
Running the experiment in location 2. Credit: Dao Vu Huong Giang
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