Public Impacts from Elite Audit Experiments: Aggregate and Response Delay Harms
| Date | 01 May 2022 |
| Published date | 01 May 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/14789299211059657 |
| Subject Matter | Experiments with Politicians: Ethics, Power, and the Boundaries of Political Science |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211059657
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(2) 217 –227
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299211059657
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Public Impacts from Elite Audit
Experiments: Aggregate and
Response Delay Harms
Scott Desposato
Abstract
What are the potential harms from elite audit experiments? Such studies seem genuinely harmless
and all in a day’s work for elites. In addition, such studies may provide valuable information about
elites’ performance and service to their publics. However, there are a number of potential harms
of such studies which are generally not captured by the standard human subjects framework. In
this essay, I consider the various harms that can result from excessive experimentation on elites.
I identify several previously ignored public harms, including aggregate and response delay harms. I
offer several potential strategies to assuage and avoid these harms.
Keywords
ethics of audit experiments, Ethics, Audit Studies of Elites, Compensation
Accepted: 8 October 2021
Introduction
Audit studies of elites are a useful research tool for evaluating the performance of public
institutions and powerful actors. Scholars have used these types of studies to examine
race and representation, the influence of money in politics, cross-ideological responsive-
ness, transparency, and many other topics.1 Audit studies of elites are frequently used to
examine the performance of elected officials, but have also been used to study bureacra-
cies, including school districts and local housing authorities. The utility of the design is
reflected in its widespread adoption, with audit studies performed by political scientists
in many countries and contexts.
Audit studies rely on deception and a lack of informed consent in order to measure
real-world behavior and responsiveness. If members of the parliament (MPs), for exam-
ple, knew they were being studied, they would probably be careful to respond to
Department of Political Science, University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA, USA
Corresponding author:
Scott Desposato, Department of Political Science, University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA
92093, USA.
Email: swd@ucsd.edu
1059657PSW0010.1177/14789299211059657Political Studies ReviewDesposato
research-article2022
Symposia and New Ideas
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