In such experiments, the Internet is either "a medium through which to target larger and more diverse samples with reduced administrative and financial costs" or "a field of social science research in its own right.
[2][3] This form of experimental setup has become increasingly popular because researchers can cheaply collect large amounts of data from a wider range of locations and people.
For instance, in web-based experiments there is less reliance on data gathered from populations of Western undergraduate students who are often used as the default research subjects in social science disciplines.
[15][16][17] Studies have been conducted to test the internal validity of web-based experiments, comparing across experimental conditions (online and offline) and successfully replicating findings.
For example, Schoeffler et al. (2013) compared laboratory- and web-based results (62 and 1,168 subjects) of an auditory experiment and found no significant differences.
[18] A paired experiment in behavioral economics split into online and traditional lab environments produced substantively similar results.
[1] Uncompensated and unsupervised subjects on LabintheWild have been shown to replicate previous in-lab study results with comparable data quality.
Methods like sequential subject matching, background timing and mouse use tracking, and instantaneous compensation through PayPal have the potential to address many of the concerns about the internal validity of web-based experiments.
Salganik, Dodds, and Watts conducted an experiment to measure social influence, specifically in the popularity rating of songs.