The Division of Social Sciences and the Social Sciences Experimental Laboratory (SSEL), and the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute are pleased to sponsor the Second Winter Experimental Social Sciences Institute (WESSI) at New York University Abu Dhabi.
The Institute is designed to provide training for social science graduate students and junior faculty in experimental methods, broadly defined. The institute will provide training in lab, field, lab-in-the-field, and survey experimental methodology and cover a broad range of substantive topics in the social sciences drawn from economics, political science, and sociology. Practical training for lab-in-the-field experimentation will be provided. The Inaugural Institute will also include a special module on the issues and concerns of conducting experiments in Africa, the Middle East, and the surrounding region.
The first few days will provide students with an understanding of the experimental method in the social sciences and a basic overview of different types of experiments such as lab, lab in the field, field, and survey, with a particular focus on laboratory methods and the formal theory approach to experimentation. Students will be introduced to z-tree and other software used in lab and lab in the field experiments. Recent advances in biological and neuro lab experiments in the social sciences will be discussed. Students will have an opportunity to participate and run laboratory experiments and discuss issues in lab and lab in the field experimentation such as validity and artificiality. Lectures will be held in the mornings with practical applications and general discussions in the afternoons.
