Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Abstract
This article develops a method for drawing samples from which it is impossible to infer any quantile or moment of the underlying distribution. The method provides researchers with a way to give subjects the experience of ambiguity. In any experiment, learning the distribution from experience is impossible for the subjects, essentially because it is impossible for the experimenter. We describe our method mathematically, illustrate it in simulations, and then test it in a laboratory experiment. Our technique does not withhold sampling information, does not assume that the subject is incapable of making statistical inferences, is replicable across experiments, and requires no special apparatus. We compare our method to the techniques used in related experiments that attempt to produce an ambiguous experience for the subjects.
Recommended Citation
Stecher, J.D., Shields, T.W., & Dickhaut, J. (2008). Generating ambiguity in the laboratory. ESI Working Paper 08-06.
Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/143
A peer-reviewed version of this paper was later published as:
Stecher, Jack, T.Shields, and J. Dickhaut. Generating ambiguity in the laboratory. Management Science 57.4 (2011): 705-712.
Comments
Working Paper 08-08