Experimental Design Workshop - UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School

Experimental Design Workshop
Speaker: Professor Irene Scopelliti
Date and time: Tuesday, September 9th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Venue: Room N202, Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School

UCD PhD students are invited to a workshop on Experimental Design, led by Professor Irene Scopelliti, Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science at Bayes Business School, Head of the Marketing Group, and Co-Director of the Behavioural Research Lab, hosted by UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Professor Scopelliti’s research focuses on consumer psychology, judgment, and decision making. She has published in leading journals such asManagement Science, Psychological Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and others. Her work has also been featured by major media outlets includingForbes, Time Magazine, BBC News, the New York Times, the Independent,andThe Atlantic.

Workshop Description

Experimental research enables researchers to test hypothesized causal relationships by manipulating independent variables while measuring their effects on dependent variables.

This intensive workshop will provide doctoral students with essential conceptual foundations for designing and evaluating experiments across disciplines. We will explore the fundamental distinction between correlation and causation, examine different types of experimental designs (true experiments, quasi-experiments, and field studies), and understand the logic underlying statistical analysis of experimental data.

Students will learn to critically evaluate experimental validity and how to apply open science principles—including transparency and pre-registration—to their own research. The session combines interactive discussions with real research examples, emphasizing the practical application of experimental thinking.

Essential Readings

• Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002).Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference, Chapter 1 (pp. 1-32). – Core theoretical foundation for experimental design and causal inference.
• Wilson, T. D., Aronson, E., & Carlsmith, K. (2010).The art of laboratory experimentation. InHandbook of social psychology(pp. 51-81). – Practical guidance on experimental design principles.
• Munafò, M. R., Nosek, B. A., Bishop, D. V., Button, K. S., Chambers, C. D., Percie du Sert, N., ... & Ioannidis, J. P. (2017).A manifesto for reproducible science.Nature Human Behaviour, 1(1), 1-9. – Modern framework connecting experimental design to open science practices.

Supplementary Readings

• Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2009).Field experiments in economics: the past, the present, and the future.European Economic Review, 53(1), 1-18. – Expands understanding of experimental types beyond laboratory settings.
• Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D., & Simonsohn, U. (2011).False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant.Psychological Science, 20(10), 1-8. – Concrete examples of how design choices affect validity.
• Charness, G., Gneezy, U., & Kuhn, M. A. (2012).Experimental Methods: Between-Subject and Within-Subject Design.Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 81(1), 1-8. – Practical guidance on choosing between experimental designs.