Have laboratory experiments become detached from advertiser goals? A meta-analysis
Edward F. McQuarrie
Laboratory experiments have an important role to play in the development of advertising science. In a laboratory experiment the goal is to control extraneous factors in order to provide a powerful test of a causal sequence predicted by some theory. In turn, advertising is among the causal factors that managers are most able to control - copy strategy, media placement, and frequency of exposure can all be varied at will across a wide range of parameters. Hence, well-designed laboratory experiments can potentially provide practitioners with generally applicable...