An economist sent out numerous résumés to businesses; all were identical except that some of the résumés had "African American-sounding" names and others "white-sounding" names. The economist was interested to see whether a person's name affected the callback rate. This study is an example of a:
A) field experiment.
B) contrived experiment.
C) natural experiment.
D) clinical trial.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This study is an example of a field experiment because it involves manipulating variables (in this case, the names on résumés) in a real-world setting to observe the effect on callback rates, without the participants being aware that they are part of an experiment.

An Economist Sent Out Numerous Résumés to Businesses; All Were