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A Note on Dropping Experimental Subjects who Fail a Manipulation Check

Author

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  • Aronow, Peter M.
  • Baron, Jonathon
  • Pinson, Lauren

Abstract

Dropping subjects based on the results of a manipulation check following treatment assignment is common practice across the social sciences, presumably to restrict estimates to a subpopulation of subjects who understand the experimental prompt. We show that this practice can lead to serious bias and argue for a focus on what is revealed without discarding subjects. Generalizing results developed in Zhang and Rubin (2003) and Lee (2009) to the case of multiple treatments, we provide sharp bounds for potential outcomes among those who would pass a manipulation check regardless of treatment assignment. These bounds may have large or infinite width, implying that this inferential target is often out of reach. As an application, we replicate Press, Sagan, and Valentino (2013) with a design that does not drop subjects that failed the manipulation check and show that the findings are likely stronger than originally reported. We conclude with suggestions for practice, namely alterations to the experimental design.

Suggested Citation

  • Aronow, Peter M. & Baron, Jonathon & Pinson, Lauren, 2019. "A Note on Dropping Experimental Subjects who Fail a Manipulation Check," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 572-589, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:polals:v:27:y:2019:i:04:p:572-589_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Steven J. Kachelmeier & Dan Rimkus & Jaime J. Schmidt & Kristen Valentine, 2020. "The Forewarning Effect of Critical Audit Matter Disclosures Involving Measurement Uncertainty," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2186-2212, December.
    2. Ariane Wenger & Michael Stauffacher & Irina Dallo, 2021. "Public perception and acceptance of negative emission technologies – framing effects in Switzerland," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-20, August.
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    4. Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, 2023. "Testing public reaction to constitutional fiscal rules violations," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 483-509, December.
    5. Devorah Manekin & Reed M. Wood, 2020. "Framing the Narrative: Female Fighters, External Audience Attitudes, and Transnational Support for Armed Rebellions," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(9), pages 1638-1665, October.
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    7. Elena Kantorowicz‐Reznichenko & Jarosław Kantorowicz & Keren Weinshall, 2022. "Ideological bias in constitutional judgments: Experimental analysis and potential solutions," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 716-757, September.
    8. Maxime Walder & Oliver Strijbis, 2022. "Negative Party Identification and the Use of Party Cues in the Direct Democratic Context," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 325-335.
    9. Jimin Pyo & Michael G. Maxfield, 2021. "Cognitive Effects of Inattentive Responding in an MTurk Sample," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 2020-2039, July.
    10. Diament, Sean M. & Kaya, Ayse & Magenheim, Ellen B., 2022. "Frames that matter: Increasing the willingness to get the Covid-19 vaccines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    11. Lim, Sijeong & Dolsak, Nives & Prakash, Aseem & Tanaka, Seiki, 2022. "Distributional concerns and public opinion: EV subsidies in the U.S. and Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    12. Yang, Xisi & Thøgersen, John, 2022. "When people are green and greedy: A new perspective of recycling rewards and crowding-out in Germany, the USA and China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 217-235.
    13. Nicole Wu, 2023. "“Restrict foreigners, not robots”: Partisan responses to automation threat," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 505-528, July.
    14. Herkes, Feie J. & Zouridis, Stavros, 2023. "The legitimacy of land use decisions by public authorities in the Netherlands: Results from a survey experiment," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

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