Field experiments allow researchers on political behaviour to test causal relationships between mobilisation and a range of outcomes, in particular voter turnout. These studies have rapidly increased in number since 2000, many assessing the impact of nonpartisan Get Out the Vote (GOTV)...

A bibliographical essay about the history of field experiments in political science, reviewing the origins of the method, detailing important examples of experiments and outlining their current fields of application. The piece concludes with a reflection on the special characteristics of...