TY - JOUR
T1 - Uncovering noisy social signals
T2 - Using optimization methods from experimental physics to study social phenomena
AU - Kaptein, Maurits
AU - Van Emden, Robin
AU - Iannuzzi, Davide
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Due to the ubiquitous presence of treatment heterogeneity, measurement error, and contextual confounders, numerous social phenomena are hard to study. Precise control of treatment variables and possible confounders is often key to the success of studies in the social sciences, yet often proves out of the realm of control of the experimenter. To amend this situation we propose a novel approach coined lock-in feedback which is based on a method that is routinely used in high-precision physics experiments to extract small signals out of a noisy environment. Here, we adapt the method to noisy social signals in multiple dimensions and evaluate it by studying an inherently noisy topic: the perception of (subjective) beauty. We show that the lock-in feedback approach allows one to select optimal treatment levels despite the presence of considerable noise. Furthermore, through the introduction of an external contextual shock we demonstrate that we can find relationships between noisy variables that were hitherto unknown. We therefore argue that lock-in methods may provide a valuable addition to the social scientist's experimental toolbox and we explicitly discuss a number of future applications.
AB - Due to the ubiquitous presence of treatment heterogeneity, measurement error, and contextual confounders, numerous social phenomena are hard to study. Precise control of treatment variables and possible confounders is often key to the success of studies in the social sciences, yet often proves out of the realm of control of the experimenter. To amend this situation we propose a novel approach coined lock-in feedback which is based on a method that is routinely used in high-precision physics experiments to extract small signals out of a noisy environment. Here, we adapt the method to noisy social signals in multiple dimensions and evaluate it by studying an inherently noisy topic: the perception of (subjective) beauty. We show that the lock-in feedback approach allows one to select optimal treatment levels despite the presence of considerable noise. Furthermore, through the introduction of an external contextual shock we demonstrate that we can find relationships between noisy variables that were hitherto unknown. We therefore argue that lock-in methods may provide a valuable addition to the social scientist's experimental toolbox and we explicitly discuss a number of future applications.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0174182
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0174182
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85016042566
VL - 12
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 3
M1 - e0174182
ER -