The Generalizability of IR Experiments Beyond the U.S.

12 June 2023, Version 2
This content is an early or alternative research output and has not been peer-reviewed at the time of posting.

Abstract

Theories of international relations (IR) typically make predictions intended to hold across many countries. Nonetheless, existing experimental evidence testing the micro-foundations of IR theories relies overwhelmingly on studies fielded in the U.S. We argue that the nature of what constitutes a theory of IR makes it especially important to know whether particular findings hold across countries. To examine the generalizability of IR experimental findings beyond the U.S., we implemented a pre-registered and harmonized multi-site replication study, fielding four prominent IR experiments in seven countries: Brazil, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, and the U.S. We find that all four experiments replicate in nearly all of the countries, a pattern likely due to treatment effect homogeneity. Our study reveals that findings from the U.S. are similar to findings from a wide range of countries, offering important theoretical and empirical implications to inform the design and interpretation of future experimental research in IR.

Keywords

International Relations
Experiments
Generalizability
Replication
Meta-analysis
Public Opinion

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