Experimental research methods have a long history across a number of different disciplines—including consumer research. Although experiments are just one of many alternative research methods, experiments are notable because they are the best way to establish causation. This makes experiments a powerful tool when researchers need to show cause and effect relationships. In this article, we provide best practices for implementing experimental research methods in consumer studies. Specifically, we discuss several important topics researchers need to consider when designing experiments, including developing hypotheses, operationalizing the variables (manipulated or measured), deciding on the research design (between-subjects, within-subjects, or mixed), selecting the research setting (laboratory, field, or online), understanding the main effect (via moderation, mediation, or moderated mediation), including manipulation and attention checks, determining the sample size, and choosing participants. We provide recommendations that researchers can use to conduct high-quality experiments in a consumer context.

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实施实验研究方法的最佳实践

实验研究方法在许多不同学科中有着悠久的历史——包括消费者研究。尽管实验只是众多替代研究方法中的一种，但实验之所以引人注目，是因为它们是建立因果关系的最佳方式。当研究人员需要显示因果关系时，这使得实验成为一个强大的工具。在本文中，我们提供了在消费者研究中实施实验研究方法的最佳实践。具体来说，我们讨论了研究人员在设计实验时需要考虑的几个重要主题，包括提出假设、操作变量（操纵或测量）、决定研究设计（受试者间、受试者内或混合）、选择研究环境（实验室、现场或在线），了解主要效果（通过调节、调解或调节调解），包括操作和注意力检查、确定样本量和选择参与者。我们提供了研究人员可以用来在消费者环境中进行高质量实验的建议。