Economic experiments have been advocated as an innovative research method to identify cause-and-effect relationships in social–ecological systems. In this short communication, we discuss the feasibility and practicality of introducing spatial and temporal dynamics into experiments with stakeholders in the field. We draw on our experience from an experiment conducted with 212 farmers in Indonesia. We find some potential of our approach to reduce artificiality and to enhance realism. Yet, this realism comes at the cost of a more complex data structure. Among other things, we discuss how our approach may be useful in multi-method research designs and as a tool for stakeholder communication.

经济实验已被提倡为一种创新的研究方法，以识别社会生态系统中的因果关系。在这段简短的交流中，我们将与利益相关者讨论将时空动力学引入实验的可行性和实用性。我们从对212个印度尼西亚农民进行的实验中汲取了经验。我们发现我们的方法在减少人为因素和增强真实感方面具有一定的潜力。然而，这种现实主义是以更复杂的数据结构为代价的。除其他事项外，我们讨论了我们的方法在多方法研究设计中如何有用以及如何与利益相关者进行交流。