Agricultural economists' use of classroom economic experiments

Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Aug 2003 by Barnett, Barry J, Kriesel, Warren

Use of Economic Experiments by Agricultural Economists

Between October 1 and November 8, 2002, a Web-based survey was administered to agricultural economics instructors to assess their use of, and attitudes about, classroom economic experiments.1 An initial e-mail asking instructors to participate in the survey was distributed on October 1 through the listserv maintained for agricultural economics department chairs. The e-mail contained a link to the Web-based survey. Department chairs were asked to forward the e-mail to their teaching faculty. A second e-mail was distributed through the department chair listserv on October 14.

The survey asked respondents to identify the educational institution where they currently teach. Thus, a response from a given institution was interpreted as evidence that the survey request had been distributed among the teaching faculty at that institution. If no responses were received from a given institution by October 21, an e-mail was sent to a faculty member at the institution asking that the survey request be forwarded to the teaching faculty in the department.

Responses were received from 208 agricultural economics instructors at 45 colleges and universities (see Table 1). Nine of the surveys were incomplete and had to be discarded. Table 2 provides summary statistics for the remaining 199 surveys.

Subset: Respondents Who Were Familiar with Classroom Economic Experiments

Slightly over 90% of the respondents indicated that they were "at least somewhat familiar with classroom economic experiments," regardless of whether or not they had actually used them in class. Only those who were familiar with classroom economic experiments were asked to answer the remaining questions on the survey. Respondents were asked to provide Lickerd scale responses to a set of statements about classroom economic experiments. Mean results are presented in Table 3. The results are sorted according to the respondents' experience with classroom economic experiments. The first column of results is for respondents who indicated that they use economic experiments in at least one course that they currently teach. The second column of results is for respondents who do not use economic experiments in any courses that they currently teach but have used them in the past. The third column of results is for those who have never used economic experiments in any course that they currently teach.

Those who currently use experiments believe more strongly, on average, that experiments provide a concrete demonstration of abstract concepts, promote student enthusiasm and interest, and facilitate active learning. Interestingly, even those who have never used experiments tend to agree with those statements. All three groups of respondents tend to agree (although not strongly) that experiments provide quick feedback about what students do and do not understand. In general, all three groups of respondents are uncertain about whether or not a benefit of classroom experiments is that students see instructors as scientists testing hypotheses derived from theory. Those who currently use classroom economic experiments tend to disagree with the statement that classroom economic experiments take too much class time. Those who have used experiments in the past or have never used experiments are less certain about this statement. Both those who currently use experiments and those who have used them in the past tend to disagree with the statement "I am not aware of any classroom economic experiments that are appropriate for the classes that I teach." Perhaps more interesting is that even those who have never used classroom economic experiments were, on average, uncertain about this statement. This would seem to indicate that a lack of awareness about appropriate experiments is not a major impediment to the adoption of classroom economic experiments. Nor does class size appear to be a major impediment to adoption. All three groups of respondents tend to disagree with the statement "My classes are so large that it would be difficult to use economic experiments." Interestingly, those who have quit using experiments are less likely to disagree with this statement. All three groups of respondents tend to disagree with the statement that performance incentives are required for classroom experiments to be effective. The strongest disagreement comes from those who currently use experiments. Relative to those who currently use experiments, those who have never used experiments and those who have quit using experiments are more concerned about using extra credit points for performance incentives. However, on average, it is probably fair to say that all three groups were largely uncertain about the use of extra credit points as performance incentives.