Choose the location you want to see specific content and pricing for:

Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences

Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences

Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences

A Design-Based Approach
Thad Dunning , Yale University, Connecticut
October 2012
Available
Paperback
9781107698000

    This unique book is the first comprehensive guide to the discovery, analysis, and evaluation of natural experiments - an increasingly popular methodology in the social sciences. Thad Dunning provides an introduction to key issues in causal inference, including model specification, and emphasizes the importance of strong research design over complex statistical analysis. Surveying many examples of standard natural experiments, regression-discontinuity designs, and instrumental-variables designs, Dunning highlights both the strengths and potential weaknesses of these methods, aiding researchers in better harnessing the promise of natural experiments while avoiding the pitfalls. Dunning also demonstrates the contribution of qualitative methods to natural experiments and proposes new ways to integrate qualitative and quantitative techniques. Chapters complete with exercises and appendices covering specialized topics such as cluster-randomized natural experiments, make this an ideal teaching tool as well as a valuable book for professional researchers.

    • Provides real examples of natural experiments, including standard natural experiments, regression-discontinuity designs and instrumental variables designs
    • Highlights the importance of strong research design over complex statistical models
    • Introduces quantitative analysis and also emphasizes the crucial role of multiple methods, including qualitative methods, proposing new ways to integrate the two
    • Develops a framework for evaluating the success of natural experiments, emphasizing the promise as well as the potential pitfalls of this method

    Awards

    Co-winner of the 2013 Best Book Award, APSA Organized Section on Experimental Research

    Read more

    Reviews & endorsements

    "Dunning has produced a useful and remarkably accessible guide for social scientists of all sorts. I especially like his guide to discovering natural experiments." - J. D. Angrist, Department of Economics, MIT

    "One of the most exciting developments in contemporary political science is the use of natural experiments to estimate causal effects. In this illuminating and highly readable book, Thad Dunning provides an expert guide to the strengths and weaknesses of this cutting-edge method, demonstrating how researchers can use natural experiments as a powerful tool for causal inference while avoiding common mistakes. I recommend this book to both beginning and experienced researchers." - Alan S. Gerber, Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Political Science, Yale University

    "The biggest problem social scientists face is figuring out what causes what. Does economic growth cause peace or is it the other way round? Do people adopt the values of their friends or just gravitate to others that think like them? Most of the time these questions are unanswerable but every now and then there's a chink in nature's armor. A windfall or crisis throws an economy off course, a fire or flood forces people into new social networks. Natural experimentalists seek out such moments to shine a light on underlying orders. But, as Dunning shows, the natural experimentalist's path is treacherous. In this first serious treatment of natural experiments in social science, Dunning sets down standards and shares techniques to help ensure real learning from such rare moments." - Macartan Humphreys, Professor, Columbia University

    "A remarkable synthesis not just of how to do empirical work, but how to do social science. Indispensible." - James Robinson, David Florence Professor of Government, Harvard University

    See more reviews

    Product details

    October 2012
    Paperback
    9781107698000
    176 pages
    245 × 174 × 17 mm
    0.75kg
    13 b/w illus. 14 tables
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction: why natural experiments?
    • Part I. Discovering Natural Experiments:
    • 2. Standard natural experiments
    • 3. Regression-discontinuity designs
    • 4. Instrumental-variables designs
    • Part II. Analyzing Natural Experiments:
    • 5. Simplicity and transparency: keys to quantitative analysis
    • 6. Sampling processes and standard errors
    • 7. The central role of qualitative evidence
    • Part III. Evaluating Natural Experiments:
    • 8. How plausible is as-if random?
    • 9. How credible is the model?
    • 10. How relevant is the intervention?
    • Part IV. Conclusion:
    • 11. Building strong research designs through multi-method research.
    Filter
    Current filters
    Clear all
    Refine results
    Clear
    Show more
    Show more
    error-img

    Sorry! No results found

    Sorry, we couldn't find any results that match your search. Please check the spelling or try different key words.

    Per Page 1 – 5 of 5
    Sample Exams and Problem Sets
    1.78MB
    Zip Archive
    Sample Syllabi
    364.83KB
    Zip Archive
    The file is locked and access is given only to lecturers adopting the textbook for their class. We need to enforce this strictly so that solutions are not made available to students. To gain access to locked resources you either need first to sign in or register for an account.
    246.66KB
    Zip Archive
    Per Page 1 – 5 of 5

    Back to top

    This title is supported by one or more locked resources. Access to locked resources is granted exclusively by Cambridge University Press to instructors whose faculty status has been verified. To gain access to locked resources, inst ructors should sign in to or register for a Cambridge user account.

    This title is supported by one or more locked resources. Access to locked resources is granted exclusively by Cambridge University Press to instructors whose faculty status has been verified. Please request an instructor account in order to view this content.

    Please use locked resources responsibly and exercise your professional discretion when choosing how you share these materials with your students. Other instructors may wish to use locked resources for assessment purposes and their usefulness is undermined when the source files (for example, solution manuals or test banks) are shared online or via social networks.

    Supplementary resources are subject to copyright. Instructors are permitted to view, print or download these resources for use in their teaching, but may not change them or use them for commercial gain.

    If you are having problems accessing these resources please contact [email protected].

      Author
    • Thad Dunning

      Thad Dunning is Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University and a research fellow at Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies and the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. He has written on a range of methodological topics, including impact evaluation, econometric corrections for selection effects and multi-method research in the social sciences, and his first book, Crude Democracy: Natural Resource Wealth and Political Regimes (Cambridge University Press, 2008), won the Best Book Award from the Comparative Democratization Section of the American Political Science Association.

    Thank You

    You will receive email communication regarding the availability of this product